Diplomatic insurance is not a strategy - opinion

NOVEMBER 5, 2026 21:00Israel’s new ambassador to Belgium, David Saranga, has barely settled into his post, and already he faces a familiar problem. After Israel’s elections, Flemish broadcaster VTM claimed that 7.5 million Palestinians could not vote. Saranga demanded a correction and an apology. VTM acknowledged that the figure was too high, but its broader framing remained. No apology was reported. Saranga had corrected a fact. Whether he had changed anyone’s mind was another matter.Saranga was right to speak up. Any Israeli ambassador should challenge inaccurate reporting. But the episode brought me back to a question I have been asking for years: What can Israeli diplomats achieve in Europe when Jerusalem itself seems uncertain about what it wants from the European Union?In 2006, I worked with Yehezkel Dror, one of Israel’s most thoughtful scholars of grand strategy, on precisely this question. We argued that Israel lacked a coherent strategy toward the EU. Twenty years later, I wish I could say our concerns had become outdated.Israel's diplomatic approach and its risksIsrael has an approach to Europe, of sorts. It relies on Washington for strategic backing, cultivates friendly governments, and hopes they will protect the Jewish state when difficult decisions loom in Brussels. I understand the attraction. It has occasionally served Israel well. The problem is that friendships change.When Dror and I wrote in 2006, Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy, Germany, Poland, and Czechia were among Israel’s important friends. Germany and Czechia remain close; relations with Poland have suffered strains. Hungary later became one of Israel’s most reliable supporters.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a media briefing in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/MARTON MONUS)Then Viktor Orbán lost Hungary’s April 2026 election. Jerusalem suddenly found itself without an ally on whom it had come to depend. Hungary remains friendly, but the episode shows the risks of building lasting ties around individual leaders.There is another concern. Some nationalist politicians who court Israel have deeply troubled Jewish communities in their own countries. Israel must listen to those communities before celebrating every new friendship.Even sympathetic governments can deliver only so much. In 2025, the European Commission proposed restricting trade concessions under the EU-Israel Association Agreement and partially suspending Israeli participation in the “Horizon Europe” research program. Whatever becomes of those proposals, they exposed a weakness in Israel’s approach. Under qualified majority voting, one friendly government cannot stop a decision.Israel has become quite good at finding diplomatic protection when pressure mounts. I am less convinced that it has decided where it wants the relationship to go.Israeli universities, businesses, and prosperity depend on Europe. Israel also has much to contribute.Germany’s purchase of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system demonstrates the importance of Israeli expertise to European security. Yet, in 2025, Spain canceled major contracts for military systems designed in Israel. Technological excellence alone cannot sustain cooperation. Politics matters, and Israel needs to take it seriously.The United States remains Israel’s indispensable strategic partner. But when Washington and European capitals disagree, Israel’s closeness to America can complicate its dealings with Europe. Israel needs to invest in both relationships.The work of Israeli diplomatsI have considerable respect for Israel’s diplomats. Correcting misinformation and maintaining contacts in an often hostile environment is demanding work. But Israel should be careful about what it expects public diplomacy to accomplish.Some European criticism of Israel is unfair. Antisemitism and double standards are real and must be challenged. Yet other disagreements concern policies that Israeli governments have chosen to pursue. The war in Gaza raised profound questions across Europe about Israel’s military conduct and the suffering of civilians. Settlement policy in the West Bank has been a source of disagreement for decades.Israel may believe European governments misunderstand its security needs. Sometimes they do. But there are occasions when they understand Israel’s policies perfectly well and still oppose them. That is a political problem, not a communications failure.A strategy must ask uncomfortable questions. Where can we compromise? Which interests must we defend? Are there policies we should reconsider because of their wider consequences? Without such choices, grand strategy becomes little more than public diplomacy with a longer time horizon.In March 2026, Ghent University withdrew from a European research project involving an Israeli partner. The news affected me personally. I am a graduate of Ghent University, and I know what it means to arrive at a university in another country, become part of its academic community, and discover that colleagues who see the world differently can become trusted partners.Academic cooperation grows through ordinary encounters. A conversation after a seminar can lead to a research project; over time, professional ties can become friendships. When those ties disappear, we lose far more than a line in a cooperation agreement.I understand that universities face pressures from outside the academic world and that some disagreements are genuine. But I worry about what happens when years of scholarly cooperation become casualties of wider disputes.Here public diplomacy has a different purpose: not to win the argument but to keep the conversation alive. We should preserve the possibility of working together, even when agreement seems distant.We must also hear Jewish communities in Antwerp, Brussels, and elsewhere. They face growing pressure to answer for Israeli government decisions. Their connection to Israel matters, but their needs and interests are their own. Jerusalem should respect that distinction.Working on Israel's relationship with EuropeFollowing October’s election, neither major political bloc has a clear majority. Whoever forms the next government will inherit a European relationship that needs attention.I would like to see a simple ambition: Israeli researchers continuing to work with European colleagues, regular dialogue with Brussels, and Israel participating meaningfully in discussions about the Middle East.Israel and the EU already have institutions for dialogue. The Association Council and the political dialogue under the Association Agreement should meet regularly, with senior officials willing to address disagreements openly.Israel must protect scientific and economic cooperation while recognizing its legal obligations. Article 2 of the Association Agreement makes respect for human rights an essential element of the relationship. Israel can argue against disproportionate measures, but it must engage with Europe’s objections.There are also opportunities to deepen cooperation. Israel’s experience in water management and climate adaptation could help European countries and Mediterranean neighbors struggling with drought and wildfires. Gaza’s future will be a harder test. European governments will have a role in reconstruction and discussions about governance. Israel should engage them early.This requires leadership. The Foreign Ministry should coordinate Israel’s European policy, working with the National Security Council and the Prime Minister’s Office.Europe has responsibilities too. Its leaders have sometimes misunderstood Israeli security needs. But we cannot spend another 20 years waiting for Europeans to see things our way.Saranga should continue correcting inaccurate reports, and his colleagues should do the same. But they deserve more than another controversy to manage; they deserve a strategy. Public diplomacy can explain and support foreign policy. It cannot replace it.An ambassador can correct a television report in Flanders. Only Israel’s government can decide what it wants to achieve in Europe.The writer is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) and a professor of European studies and international relations in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Follow us on Google