ISRAEL AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

This chapter summarizes key developments in Israeli-European Community/EU relations from 1973 to 2022. Israeli-European Union (EU) relations have consisted of several conflicting trends that have resulted in the emergence of a highly problematic and volatile relationship: one characterized by a strong and ever-increasing network of economic, cultural and personal ties, yet marked at the political level by disappointment, bitterness and anger. Israel has displayed a genuine desire to strengthen its ties with the EU and to be included as part of the European integration project. Israelis, however, are deeply suspicious of the Union’s policies and are untrusting of the EU’s intentions toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Middle East as a whole. In the same way, the EU displays an equally ambivalent attitude concerning the nature of its ties with Israel.