Comparative Assessment of Israel’s Foreign Policy Response to the ‘Arab Spring’

Abstract

This article analyses Israel’s foreign policy response to the ‘Arab Spring’ in comparative perspective. Following the analytical framework shared by all contributions to this Special Issue, the article addresses four main dimensions in as many parts. Part I examines Israel’s initial reactions to the advent of the popular upheavals and regime changes in the Arab world in 2011–2014 and explores how those reactions have evolved over time. Part II identifies Israel’s main policy objectives in relation to events in the region and particularly its immediate neighbours: Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Part III examines the instruments which Israel has used, and eschewed, in pursuit of its policy objectives. Finally, part IV undertakes a theoretically informed analysis with the aim of explaining Israel’s distinctive strategic posture and policy responses to the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ thus far.

Key words:

• Israel
• Arab Spring
• Policy
• Response

Notes

1. Author’s notes from the workshop ‘Governance, Development and Security in the Contemporary Middle East: A Crisis of Sovereignty?’ organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and The Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, IDC, Herzliya, 11–12 October 2012.

2. Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror headed the Israeli National Security Council (NSC) and was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security advisor from January 2011 until November 2013.

3. Author interview with Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, national security advisor (2011–2013), Ra’anana, Israel, 10 November 2013.

4. Author notes from a group discussion with members of the political research and policy planning departments of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, 27 November 2013.

5. Supra, note 2.

6. The policy objectives articulated by this process are discussed in Section II of this article.

7. Supra, note 3.

8. Supra, notes 1 and 3.

9. Supra, note 3.

10. Supra, note 1.

11. Supra, note 2.

12. Supra, note 2.

13. On the origins and evolution of Israel’s deterrence strategy vis-à-vis non-state actors, see Rid (2012).

14. Supra, notes 1 and 3.

15. Supra, notes 1 and 2.

16. See, for example, former Israeli Cabinet Secretary’s proposal to remove HAMAS’s missile arsenal in Gaza: Zvi Hauser, ‘Take care of missiles, not Hamas’, ynet news, 7 July 2014 (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/07340L-4541799,00.html); former Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, ‘A smart way out of the Gaza confrontation’, CNN Opinion, 13 July 2014 (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/13/opinion/oren-mideast-crisis-solution/).

17. Supra, note 3.

18. Supra, note 1.

19. Supra, note 3.

20. Supra, note 2.

21. Supra, notes 2 and 3.

22. Supra, note 2.

23. Supra, note 2.