Israel Made Britain ‘Wince,’ says Middle East Expert

 

A Middle East expert and former official from three Republican administrations said Israel succeeded in making Britain “wince.”

Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. official in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations, said that Israel’s retaliatory measures were meant to make Britain “wince,” and he believed that Israel had succeeded.

After Britain imposed a ban on goods produced in Judea and Samaria to punish Israel for its planned construction in Section E1, Israel retaliated by giving the British government 30 days to close its consulate in Israel, ordering British officials at the U.S.-led International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat to cease operations, and canceling the British Support Team that trains Palestinian Authority police in Ramallah.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Abrams said, “The British, like the French, think of themselves as a global power. Okay, not a superpower, but a country with a global role.”

He explained that Israel has now essentially told Britain, “You just lost your role here.” This will make it harder to exert influence in Ramallah or Gaza, which is important to the British.

He also said that despite 10 other European countries joining the sanctions, the majority of European countries did not join, showing that Israel’s actions did create deterrence. The strong Israeli reaction, he added, signaled to other countries that there is a cost to joining this movement.

Abrams said that Israel meted out the punishment particularly to Britain for taking the lead in getting other countries to join its initiative.

“It was the British who not only did it, but then went out and tried to convince others to join them,” he said. “And I think the Israelis particularly resent that.”

Abrams pointed to Norway as an example of a country that lost its influence when it lost its neutrality. Israel expelled the Dutch representatives, and Norway subsequently lost its influence as a mediator.

He took Norwegian diplomats to task over this. “What have you achieved?” he said he asked them. “Nothing for the Palestinians, and you diminished your own influence.”

Directing his words to London, Abrams said it risks the same thing: “What you did will not help one Palestinian, but it will diminish British influence.”