Not So Splendid Isolation

This isn’t the first time that Israel finds itself isolated — and not only at the UN, but also in the wider arena of international relations. But it was especially stinging because of the Gaza war’s horrid background, which for Jews brought back traumas from the Holocaust, and a sense that denial of that calamity had morphed into denial of Hamas atrocities.

Being isolated is not a new phenomenon for Jews. David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the State of Israel, recognized the challenges of being surrounded by a mostly hostile environment. From day one, he worked to establish close ties with a United States that, initially, was not always willing; and sought allies among non-Arab states in the region, such as Iran, Turkey, and Ethiopia. The latter attempt was only partly successful at the time due to the vicissitudes of Middle Eastern politics — though the concept of a regional partnership found concrete realization many years later in Netanyahu’s Abraham Accords, significantly aided by former president Trump.

“Israel against the world” (or as it is expressed in Hebrew, “Kol ha’olam negdeinu”) has had its ups and downs. When “little Israel” was victorious in the Six Day War, it was a hero to most of the West. Some of those same parties who praised it now prefer to depict it as the cause of many of the world’s troubles, and even being the victim of atrocious barbarity won’t change their prejudice. But much of the current reality has come about through developments only partly related to Israel, and mainly fostered by domestic trends and demographic changes in other countries.

Growing anti-Semitism plays an important role in this, especially in countries like Britain, France, and Belgium, where significant local Arab and Muslim communities are influencing domestic politics. The United States is a special case (and especially now because of this year’s elections).