Over the past decade, Jerusalem has managed to make great diplomatic strides, successfully reaching out to nations in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe—not to mention its cooperation with certain Arab states. Western Europe, however, remains a bastion of hostility, and this has done much to shape the reflexively anti-Israel stance of the European Union itself. Even so, argues Evelyn Gordon, the region shouldn’t be considered a lost cause:
[M]ost Europeans, like most people everywhere, don’t really care that much about Israel, the Palestinians, or their unending conflict. Consequently, small groups of committed activists can exert a disproportionate influence on policy. For years, this has worked against Israel because the anti-Israel crowd woke up to this fact very early and took full advantage of it.
Yet it turns out pro-Israel activists can use the same tactics. [For instance], a relatively small group of committed pro-Israel Christians in the Dutch parliament managed to mobilize support last month for a resolution rejecting labeling requirements for products made in the disputed Israeli territories (Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and parts of Jerusalem). The motion, which passed 82-68, correctly deemed these rules discriminatory so long as they don’t apply equally to all disputed territory worldwide.
The problem with traditional diplomacy is that it generally focuses on high-level officials, both elected politicians and civil servants. These are people with zero incentive to rock the boat on Israel’s behalf. . . . And in Europe, not rocking the boat means adhering to the anti-Israel consensus that has long dominated the EU. . . . Yet precisely because senior officialdom often doesn’t care much about Israel, committed activists can move the needle by lobbying members of parliament, joining the boards of organizations, and so forth, thereby generating noise that makes it seem that people care about this issue.
Citing examples in Norway, France, and even in the California Democratic party where such initiatives have yielded fruit, Gordon exhorts Israeli diplomats to encourage such efforts “by identifying and actively engaging with groups that are potentially persuadable to pro-Israel activism.”
Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/opinion/in-europe-israel-needs-a-bottom-up-approach-to-diplomacy/