Can Lapid’s new liberal friends give Israel what it needs in the EU? - The Jerusalem Post

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Lapid said on his first day in office that he wants to improve relations with the EU, Israel’s largest trading partner, and this is a big step in that direction.

On Lapid’s to-do list for Monday are several things: First of all, to try to meet individually with as many of the 27 foreign ministers as possible before he has to get back in time to vote in the Knesset on Monday afternoon.

Lapid also wants to push for a reconvening of the Israel-EU Association Council, a forum at the basis of diplomatic relations between the countries meant to ensure dialogue and improve ties between the parties. The Association Council has not met since 2012, with some member states blocking it in protest over Operation Protective Edge in 2014, then settlements and other policies towards the Palestinians.

EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has been in favor of restarting it for nearly a year.

There are also major partnerships with the EU that Lapid wants to promote, like having Israel join the  € 1.46 billion Creative Europe culture and arts program, join the EuroPol for policing and security and also ensure that negotiations with Horizon Europe – the scientific research program in which Israel has long participated – go well.

Those are some of Lapid’s concrete, quantifiable goals. He has another aim in mind, which is more amorphous yet no less important to the foreign minister: Lapid wants to emphasize that Israel is a liberal democracy and align it with other liberal democracies in Europe.

But can Lapid’s focus on liberal friends in Europe give Israel the support it needs in Brussels?

This is a shift for Israel’s foreign policy. While Israel has always called itself a democracy and was the only one in the Middle East, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought partnerships with some far-right European figures. Foremost of those was with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the champion of “illiberal democracy” who has moved greatly to consolidate his power during his time, but there were others in central Europe as well.

The ties between Netanyahu and these leaders were based on some shared views – about migrants, radical Islam and terrorism, George Soros – and more.

THEY ALSO played a very practical and helpful role for Israel when it came to the EU, with Hungary and often others moving to veto any condemnations of or action against Israel. Borrell came up with a convenient way of circumventing the effective veto power over critical statements, by reading the condemnations aloud at press conferences and saying this is what the EU would have said if it weren’t for one or two states. But, more importantly, the EU Foreign Affairs Council could not take any kind of assertive action against Israel – like banning settlement products – with those countries standing in the way.

Still, Lapid is not looking to be buddy-buddy with the Orban government or his ilk; in fact, he recently said that there is no such thing as an “illiberal democracy.” Lapid is already buddies with French President Emmanuel Macron, to give one example.

But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned in May that “the risk of apartheid” is strong in Israel, which led the Foreign Ministry to reprimand the French ambassador to Israel, days before Lapid entered office.

Personal relationships have value in foreign affairs, but will they be enough to reverse the decades-long highly critical French attitude towards Israel?

It is true that some foreign leaders or politicians were happy to see Netanyahu go, and are giving Prime Minister Bennett and Lapid a warm welcome.

But some of the other EU member states that are highly critical of Israel and push for harsher reprimands and action, like Ireland, Belgium or Luxembourg, are unlikely to be impressed by the new government, even if Lapid knows all the right things to say to a liberal audience. They would likely need to see a real transformation of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians in order to budge, and this government is not likely to provide that.

With that reality, who will take up the role of Hungary and other central European countries when it comes to Israel in the EU if Lapid cools or puts an end to Israel’s cultivation of those ties?

First of all, it is worth pointing out that some of these countries supported Israel, even before Netanyahu started focusing on them. Also, Hungary’s stance is not just about Israel; Budapest is at odds with much of the EU, taking issue with French and German dominance, and uses its veto power often.

Still, there will be a continued effort from Jerusalem to keep up ties with the more right-wing European governments, but it will come from Bennett and not Lapid.

The prime minister is “doing outreach with those we feel are strategically important,” a source close to Bennett said. In the month since Bennett entered office, he has spoken to the leaders of Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

It would probably be too simplistic to say that Lapid and Bennett have split Europe up according to its political leanings, but Israel’s alliances of more recent years will not be left by the wayside while Lapid touts liberal values.

Ideally, Israel wouldn’t need vetoes in the Foreign Affairs Council as often, but would still have the option. Between Bennett and Lapid’s approaches, Israel could end up with a more balanced situation in Europe, with strong EU-Israel partnerships.

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