Security, Counter-Terrorism, Foreign Relations and the Star of David. How the promotion of relations with the State of Israel is mandatory in the 21st century.
Throughout the past months we are witnessing the increasing tensions in the European Union. The wanted terrorist organization, ISIS, has turned to a strategy of deterrence through terrorism upon the international community abroad. In these difficult times we also see an increase in anti-Semitism; as associations such as the BDS are making their grounds with the assistance of organized display of propaganda.
Many governments devote millions of euros to fight the worrying takeover of anti-Semitism and preserve the privileges of the Jewish communities within their borders, and with justified reasons no less – the State of Israel has become a leading party, and is one of the central players in the international community regarding anything there is to know about counter-terrorism.
Keeping neutrality in its foreign policy regarding other feuds in the middle-east, the same people prosecuted by the Nazi party throughout WWII have become, over the period of a few decades, to experts in the fields of economy, energy, culture, tourism, and last but not least – military strategy. As such, it is only logical that it will gain admiration from some of the more important countries in the west (and east).
The contribution of Israel’s knowledge to preserving the security in the European countries is apparent to say the least, and many European countries have already been taken by the beautiful candy that is the art of studying. A good example would be the usage of the Israeli knowledge regarding counter-terrorism to detain some of the terrorists responsible for the Paris Terror Attacks back in November 2015. It was mentioned by the French Chief Inspector in the scene of the 7-hour raid of the terrorists’ home that they have managed to succeed with the help of techniques used by the Israeli “special counter-terrorism units”.
Faced with the constant, never-ending threat of abrupt terrorism and tunnel-warfare within its borders, it is only natural that with the uprising of ISIS that Israel is becoming a role model for the “untrained” countries, who are relatively new to the subject of terrorism within their territories. Many clients have already been standing in line, all with the purpose of preventing the next terrorism attempt within their borders.
The dreadful thought of the September 11 attacks repeating themselves in the European playgrounds by ISIS, which is ironically a descendant of Al-Qaeda, is putting many governments on the edge of their seats. Some have already recognized what is already a great potential – adaptation with the help of constructivism, while others are desperate on inventing their own wheel while the car is already being sold on the market, with a discount no less. Too many strings are attached to a simple lift of a finger from the higher-ups, and relating to the State of Israel can be the downfall of governments and politicians present in Islamic countries.
The State of Israel itself is wasting no time in the process of building bridges with the European community, which is very much in favor of such efforts. The existence of the “Energy Triangle”, a pact formed between Israel, Cyprus and Greece in the fields of energy and gas resources sharing, is a dominant game-changer in the fields of foreign relations with the Land of Milk, Honey and Counter-Terrorism.
The rules have changed in the 21st century – to preserve the security of your people you no longer need to fight back the charging army of Spartans, but rather be able to neutralize, in split seconds, a terrorist fanatic who built an improvised gun from spare parts found in an abandoned shack. The international community is catching up fast, with every terrorist attack only clarifying the need for a good counter-terrorism infrastructure. ISIS is no longer a simple terrorist organization, but a sophisticated system with high intelligence capabilities, academies dedicated to teaching the art of Terror, banks, communication channels, websites and recruiting offices. An ISIS POC is no longer the shady man who comes up to you in that remote bar at the slums, but rather that beautiful woman chatting with you on Facebook. The evolution of ISIS forces the international community to react accordingly.
A good example of how the milestones of the 21st Century Terrorism impacted the foreign policy of certain countries toward Israel is one of the latest victims of ISIS terrorist attacks – Turkey. Even before the horrifying Istanbul bombing on May 19th, President Erdogan’s gut finally clenched. The Marmara incident back in May 2010 served as a wrecking ball to the once-warm relations between Turkey and Israel. Now, with 6 terrorist attacks in the last four months since the start of 2016, the Turkish government starts having second-thoughts. Even before the Istanbul incident, back in December 14th, Erdogan clarified his will to normalize the relations between Turkey and Israel, claiming it to be beneficial to the basis of stability in the Middle East. Trying to preserve his country’s own interests for an Israeli lift of embargo on the Gaza strip, the West Bank, and a compensation for the Marmara incident, however, caused the Turkish President’s endeavors to backfire.
The Israeli casualties in the Istanbul terrorist attack, however, brought forth a temporary unification of the two opposing sides against a common enemy- terrorism. The Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu made no hesitations sending a letter of deep-condolences to Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu, where he expressed his desire for a normalization in Turkey-Israeli relations in order to combat the terrorism within Turkey’s borders more efficiently.
A few days later, March 23rd, PM Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned that he hopes for a full restoration of Israel-Turkey relations in the near future. Erdogan responded with a proposed meeting which was held in Turkey between the Turkish government and Jewish Associations from the US to discuss the subjects of fighting the growing anti-Semitism in the West and in Europe.
Turkey is only a single name in long list of countries who realized what was already obvious – in the 21st century, when the terror is lurking around every corner, when the EU is standing on its feet in fear of terror leakage of ISIS activists in the migrant influx from the middle east, when everything seem bleak, they need someone to lean on. In the 21st century – the guiding light is the State of Israel.
