The Netanyahu “Doctrine”: Passivity and Reactivity, with Missed Opportunities

Ronen Hoffman, Foreign Policy Research Institute

Excerpt:

Israeli diplomacy, and in particular public diplomacy [JB emphasis], has been weaker than ever. The current pattern of policy and decision making fails to ensure any balance between considerations of foreign relations and security-dictated policy—and fails to use Israel’s military achievements as leverage to achieve political objectives. Even though Israel is the strongest military force in the region, beyond deterrence (which is an extremely important element unto itself), it has lost much of its “smart power.” Israel’s passivity has eroded many other dimensions of its power, such as its economic and cultural strengths, which could be used to create more awareness of Israel’s perspective. Wide segments of global public opinion have lost interest in the Israeli narrative. That deterioration is a direct result of the lack of political vision by the current government, which is directly affected by Netanyahu’s focus on his own political survival while facing corruption investigations and has led him to adopt populist policies that are aimed at appeasing the right-wing electorate and his political base. ...