ISRAEL’S EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN STRATEGY— INTERVIEW WITH HE YACOV HADAS-HANDELSMAN, THE AMBASSADOR OF ISRAEL TO HUNGARY Zsolt Csepregi, 20 January 2021, Budapest
Your Excellency, let us start with a broad question. How do you see Israel’s position as both an Eastern Mediterranean and a Middle Eastern state? How can these two aspects complement each other? And where do they collide if they collide at all? Well, first of all, Israel is not the only country that could be described as having one leg here and one leg there. The Eastern Mediterranean has gained additional importance in recent years, and some of its importance stems from its connection to the Middle East. What do I mean by this? We have been witnessing the ongoing civil war in Syria, where, in order to prevent Assad’s regime from being destroyed by ISIS and all the other rebels, the Russians returned to the region. In some sense, they have returned with greater military capacity than they used to have there during the Cold War, and, now, they are in control of this area.
Then, you have the gas deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean: a financial bonanza and an energy resource which is also a solution to the problem of climate change—or, at least, a partial one because, while being a fossil material, gas is still less contaminating than oil or, of course, coal. This is also why the area has gained more importance than it used to have before. In my interpretation, Israel’s position has in recent years improved. It has happened so because we have been the first to extract the gas deposits. Apart from Egypt, of course, as they have been dealing with offshore gas for years but mainly in the western side of the region near the Alexandria area. Israel is economically better off today because we have started to develop our fields, and we have been swift to utilise them, so the Israeli economy can now switch rapidly from all kinds of energy sources to either renewable energy or, at least, energy extracted from natural gas. Israel’s position has also changed significantly in light of the so-called Arab Spring, which was, of course, not an “Arab Spring.” I have to mention that it was very depressing to watch on television recently that people in Tunisia or Libya are missing Ben Ali or Qaddafi. In this complex region, Israel is like a huge lighthouse in the middle of a stormy ocean where you can find shelter. One just has to look at the process of Israel’s normalising or, in some cases, renormalising its relations with the states of the Gulf and North Africa. It has not just come out of a void. It is the result of the changes in a world where the Arab countries understand that, on the one hand, the US is not that interested in being the world’s police anymore, and, on the other hand, the “bad guys” are still on the march. By INTERVIEWS
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