THE FUTURE OF U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS & ISRAELI FOREIGN POLICY
BY LAUREN BATTEN
The Pacific Council recently hosted a discussion with the Israeli Consul General of Los Angeles Dr. Hillel Newman about the future of U.S.-Israel relations and Israeli foreign policy. The conversation was moderated by Pacific Council member Nahal Kazemi, senior counsel at Keller/Anderle LLP.
Here are key takeaways from the discussion:
“The bipartisan relationships between Israel and the United States is extremely important,” Dr. Newman said. “Aligning with Israel is the backbone of both Democratic and Republican parties. This is beyond any individual, election, or political party.”
Newman said the United States and Israel share many of the same values and end goals. “Sometimes there is disagreement on tactics, but that’s okay,” he added. “What’s important is that we communicate and tackle issues together. The United States and Israel are so intertwined on security, trade, human rights, public health, technology, agriculture, scientific research, etc. It’s an extremely multifaceted relationship that includes almost everything.”
Newman said Israel formed a National Unity Government in response to COVID-19 to unify their political parties and that it has the widest support (73%) of parliament members of any form of government. This is significant because it ended a year and a half of deadlock and created compromise from both parties.
He pointed out that unemployment in Israel has jumped from 4 percent to 20 percent due to the pandemic. “COVID-19 has accelerated a lot of problems that already existed,” Newman said.
“More countries in the Middle East are acknowledging and cooperating with Israel, including diplomatic missions, peace agreements, direct flights, playing the national anthem at sporting events, etc. This is progress since Israel’s creation.”
Newman said more resources have been put into the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than any other in the world. He encouraged Palestine to come to the table and be willing to compromise. “It is Israeli’s intention to reinforce the two-state solution,” he said. “Israel is trying to think out of the box to move forward with Palestine. We must ensure that there’s financial viability for a future Palestinian state, money must be put in the hands of people rather than the corrupt Palestinian Authority or private bank accounts, and get the support of the Arab world.”
He said there is historical solidarity between the Jewish people and Black people. “Jews are, in many ways, the most natural partners,” he said. “The Jewish community understands persecution so well. There is a lot of similar heritage that can be built upon.”
“Middle East Islam is extremely politicized with maneuvering and radicalizing, but there is a vast Islam out there which is friendly, which regards themselves as cousins of Jews, which wish to work together as much as possible and recognize Israel,” he said. “You don’t see this benevolent Islam on the news. Social media can be most helpful to change public opinion and policy here.”
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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
