Europe S Alliance With Israel

In carefully crafted official statements, the European Union presents itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. In reality, however, the EU’s 27 governments have been engaged in a long process of accommodating Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Journalist David Cronin interrogates the relationship and its outcomes. A recent agreement for "more intense, more fruitful, more influential co-operation" between the EU and Israel has meant that Israel has become a member state of the Union in all but name. Cronin shows that rather than using this relationship to encourage Israeli restraint, the EU has legitimized actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion. Concluding his revealing and shocking account, Cronin calls for a continuation and deepening of international activism and protest to halt the EU's slide into complicity.

A master of historical narrative illuminates Israel's relationship with Great Britain and Europe, chronicling Britain's effort to prolong its foothold in the Holy Land; postwar Germany's moral resurrection as Israel's economic benefactor; and other events.

Uneasy Neighbors: Israel and the European Union presents a concise and thorough analysis of significant aspects of Israeli-European relations from the late 1950s to the present day. Its primary concern is to examine major facets of the troubled Israeli-European relations, which are characterized by a love-hate relationship fueled by economic passion and occasional political hostility. This study of Israeli-European relations is important not only because it explores this unusual relationship, but also because it offers insights into how the European Union (E.U.) is actually judged by Israelis as well as serves as an important indicator of how well European intentions have been translated into observable actions in both Israel and the Middle East. In addition, Israeli-European relations reflect what has been faced by the E.U. in the process of setting-up its foreign policy instruments. In other words, the book offers both an analysis of Israeli-European relations, and an observation on the Union's emerging role as an international actor, especially in the Middle East. Despite the importance of Israeli-European relations, the subject has received relatively little attention in the fields of Israeli, European and Middle East studies, outside the context of the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A review of the academic literature reveals a limited number of studies on Israeli-E.U. relations. This book attempts to fill this academic gap in our grasp of major aspects of this relationship. Each of the chapters reflects on different dimensions of this relationship. The emphasis is on across-the-board observations and crucial areas for the understanding of Israeli-European relations. In this regard, while the chapters were designed to add up to an inclusive study, each of them can also be read individually.

This volume - a collaborative effort between The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Saxonian universities - is a source book for students and researchers of European Studies. Its scope is interdisciplinary and incorporates contributions from social psychology, international relations, economics, political science, and sociology.

According to common perception, the Federal Republic of Germany supported the formation of the Israeli state for moral reasons--to atone for its Nazi past--but did not play a significant role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, the historical record does not sustain this narrative. Daniel Marwecki's pathbreaking analysis deconstructs the myths surrounding the odd alliance between Israel and post-war democratic Germany. Thorough archival research shows how German policymakers often had disingenuous, cynical or even partly antisemitic motivations, seeking to whitewash their Nazi past by supporting the new Israeli state. This is the true context of West Germany's crucial backing of Israel in the 1950s and '60s. German economic and military support greatly contributed to Israel's early consolidation and eventual regional hegemony. This initial alliance has affected Germany's role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the present day. Marwecki reassesses German foreign policymaking and identity-shaping, and raises difficult questions about German responsibility after the Holocaust, exploring the many ways in which the genocide of European Jews and the dispossession of the Palestinians have become tragically intertwined in the Middle East's international politics. This long overdue investigation sheds new light on a major episode in the history of the modern Middle East.

Prior to the Six-Day War, Israel was a darling of the international left, vocally opposed to apartheid and devoted to building alliances with black leaders in newly independent African nations. South Africa, for its part, was controlled by a regime of Afrikaner nationalists who had enthusiastically supported Hitler during World War II. But after Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the country found itself estranged from former allies and threatened anew by old enemies. As both states became international pariahs, a covert—and lucrative—military relationship blossomed between these seemingly unlikely allies. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive interviews with former generals and high-level government officials in both countries, The Unspoken Alliance tells a troubling story of Cold War paranoia, moral compromises, and startling secrets.

Does America’s pro-Israel lobby wield inappropriate control over US foreign policy? This book has created a storm of controversy by bringing out into the open America’s relationship with the Israel lobby: a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape foreign policy in a way that is profoundly damaging both to the United States and Israel itself. Israel is an important, valued American ally, yet Mearsheimer and Walt show that, by encouraging unconditional US financial and diplomatic support for Israel and promoting the use of its power to remake the Middle East, the lobby has jeopardized America’s and Israel’s long-term security and put other countries – including Britain – at risk.