An ambassador in Ljubljana, but not in London: Israel’s foreign policy shifts away from longstanding allies

Gideon Saar smiled as he cut the blue ribbon outside the newly inaugurated embassy of Nauru in Jerusalem. Israel’s foreign minister described the tiny Pacific island nation of some 12,000 people as “one of Israel’s greatest friends in the international community.”

Two days later, it was Slovenia’s turn, as Saar cut the ribbon on a new embassy in Ljubljana. He praised the new center-right government for standing by Israel in the European Union, especially after the country had previously been one of Israel’s harshest critics. A large business delegation was brought along to show appreciation.

There was no such celebration in London, where Israel faced one of its sharpest diplomatic rebukes in years: a coordinated move by the United Kingdom and 11 other countries to impose sanctions and trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel has had no ambassador in London for nearly a year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intended envoy, his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, was barred from leaving Israel due to a criminal investigation, leaving the post vacant.

The split-screen moment reflects a broader pattern in Israel’s foreign relations: As traditional partners in Western Europe grow distant, losing patience with the settlement expansion and surging violence in the West Bank, the right-wing government is cultivating ties with smaller or what it sees as more ideologically aligned countries, redirecting its diplomatic energy to other arenas.

UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband tied the new measures, announced in parliament on Tuesday, directly to Israel’s decision to push ahead with the E1 settlement project, which critics say would cut the West Bank in two and close off the possibility of a contiguous future Palestinian state.

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But the move is part of a longer-term shift. In September 2025, Britain, Canada, France and more than a dozen other Western states recognized Palestinian statehood. And this June, the UK, Canada, France, Norway, Australia and New Zealand announced a wave of coordinated sanctions targeting individuals and networks accused of financing and enabling settler violence.

Some of the states announced additional punitive measures: France barred far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, Italy opened an investigation into National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over the treatment of detained activists, including Italians, after Israel intercepted an aid flotilla on its way to Gaza. The Netherlands declared both Ben Gvir and Smotrich “persona non grata” and approved its own ban on imports of settlement goods.

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Trump administration offers rare muted response on new sanctions against Israel

Not every proposal has succeeded, and Israel has so far managed to stall broader actions from the EU. For years, Israel used Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary to block EU measures. Now, following a change in leadership in Budapest, Slovenia has effectively taken Hungary’s place as Israel’s representative in Brussels. A push by France and Sweden for an EU ban on settlement trade was stalled, as were efforts to expel Israel from the EU’s flagship Horizon research program.

Dr. Rémi Daniel, from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) says the one comfort for Israel is that Germany and Italy have so far stuck to statements rather than joining the sanctions. “They are the most important EU member states because they have the power to block plans at the European level,” he said.

But the trend was still concerning, he said, because looking at the balance of power within the EU, “the swinging center is going more against Israel.”

Even as ties with some Western European allies fray, others are deepening their alliance with Israel through defense trade. Last month, Israel signed a $3.5 billion air-defense deal with Greece, one of the largest arm agreements in Israel’s history. And in early 2026, Israel Aerospace Industries signed a $3.1 billion deal with Germany to expand its supply of Arrow missile interceptor systems.

Israel’s response to the new sanctions – and its attitude towards one of its oldest allies in general - has been openly combative.

Saar swiftly announced he would close the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, end UK training for Palestinian Authority security forces, and ban entry to a dozen British officials and lawmakers. “The British move is morally distorted and constitutes a blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process,” Saar said Tuesday.

Netanyahu labeled the UK the “Islamic Republic of Britain” on a podcast last month and has accused French President Emanuel Macron of fueling antisemitism by recognizing a Palestinian state.

While relations with some Western allies cool, and even the friendly Trump administration in the United States appears to be growingly frustrated with settler violence, Israel has been pouring energies into other regions and redrawing its map of relationships.

Declaring 2026 “The Year of South America,” Saar has toured Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Colombia and restored relations with Bolivia, Chile and Honduras. He also opened a communication channel with Venezuela for the first time since 2009, sending rescue teams to assist with earthquake relief last month.

New Israeli embassies opened in Zambia, Estonia, Moldova, Fiji and Slovenia. And Israel became the first country in the world to recognize the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent state. Somaliland then opened an embassy in Jerusalem, where fewer than 10 countries have embassies, including the US. Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared their intent to join the list.

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Israel’s far-right competes for votes with increasingly extreme visions

Daniel Shek, a former Israeli ambassador to France, argues that this pivot comes at a real cost and says the government is damaging relationships built over decades on shared interests in economy, science, culture, security.

“They are sacrificing the alliances with the most significant countries,” he said. “If Saar thinks the Paraguayan economy can replace France as a partner for export and import, good for him.”

The countries involved in the sanctions, he said, are not ideologically hostile to Israel, just its actions under Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Smotrich. “France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, are friendly countries fed up with this Israeli government’s behavior.”

Shek notes that the sanctions target the settlements, and not Israel itself, and that their practical bite, for now, is limited. Still, he says, they should not be underestimated.

“Once sanctions have been imposed, it is significant,” he said. “There are things that have been opened and cannot be put back in the bottle.”

以色列外交部长吉迪恩·萨尔在耶路撒冷为新落成的瑙鲁大使馆剪彩时面带微笑。他称这个人口约1.2万的太平洋岛国是“以色列在国际社会中最伟大的朋友之一”。

两天后，轮到斯洛文尼亚了。萨尔为位于卢布尔雅那的新大使馆剪彩。他赞扬了斯洛文尼亚新成立的中右翼政府在欧盟内坚定支持以色列，尤其是在该国此前曾是以色列最严厉的批评者之一的情况下。一个庞大的商业代表团也随行以示感谢。

伦敦却一片愁云惨雾，以色列正面临着近年来最严厉的外交谴责之一：英国与其他11个国家联合对以色列在被占领的西岸定居点实施制裁和贸易限制。以色列驻伦敦大使一职已空缺近一年。总理内塔尼亚胡原定的特使、其幕僚长察希·布雷弗曼因刑事调查而被禁止离境，该职位一直空缺。

屏幕分割的瞬间反映了以色列外交关系中一个更广泛的模式：随着西欧传统伙伴对定居点扩张和西岸暴力事件激增失去耐心，以色列右翼政府正在与较小的国家或它认为意识形态更一致的国家建立联系，并将外交精力转移到其他领域。

英国外交大臣埃德·米利班德周二在议会宣布了这些新措施，并将之与以色列推进E1定居点项目的决定直接联系起来。批评人士称，该项目将把西岸一分为二，并彻底断绝未来建立一个连片巴勒斯坦国的可能性。

艾哈迈德·加拉布利/法新社/盖蒂图片社

但此举只是长期转变的一部分。2025年9月，英国、加拿大、法国和十几个其他西方国家承认巴勒斯坦建国。今年6月，英国、加拿大、法国、挪威、澳大利亚和新西兰宣布了一系列协调一致的制裁措施，目标是那些被指控资助和支持定居者暴力行为的个人和网络。

部分国家宣布了额外的惩罚措施：法国禁止极右翼财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇入境；意大利对国家安全部长伊塔马尔·本·格维尔展开调查，原因是以色列拦截了一支前往加沙的援助船队后，意大利当局对待包括意大利公民在内的被拘留活动人士的方式存在问题。荷兰宣布本·格维尔和斯莫特里奇为“不受欢迎的人”，并批准了禁止进口定居点物资的禁令。

凯文迪奇/盖蒂图片社/FILE

特朗普政府对以色列新制裁反应罕见地保持低调

并非所有提议都获得成功，以色列迄今为止也成功阻止了欧盟采取更广泛的行动。多年来，以色列一直利用匈牙利总理欧尔班领导的政府阻挠欧盟的措施。如今，随着布达佩斯领导层的更迭，斯洛文尼亚实际上已经取代匈牙利，成为以色列在布鲁塞尔的代表。法国和瑞典推动欧盟禁止定居点贸易的努力受阻，将以色列逐出欧盟旗舰研究项目“地平线”的努力也同样受阻。

以色列国家安全研究所（INSS）的雷米·丹尼尔博士表示，以色列唯一感到欣慰的是，德国和意大利迄今为止仍坚持发表声明，并未加入制裁行列。“它们是欧盟最重要的成员国，因为它们有能力在欧洲层面阻止相关计划，”他说道。

但他表示，这种趋势仍然令人担忧，因为从欧盟内部的权力平衡来看，“摇摆的中间派越来越不利于以色列”。

尽管与一些西欧盟友的关系日渐疏远，但其他国家却通过国防贸易加深了与以色列的联盟。上个月，以色列与希腊签署了一项价值35亿美元的防空协议，这是以色列历史上规模最大的军售协议之一。此外，以色列航空航天工业公司计划在2026年初与德国签署一项价值31亿美元的协议，以扩大其“箭式”导弹拦截系统的供应。

以色列对新制裁的回应，以及它对这个最老盟友之一的总体态度，都是公开对抗的。

萨尔迅速宣布，他将关闭英国驻耶路撒冷总领事馆，停止英国对巴勒斯坦权力机构安全部队的培训，并禁止十几名英国官员和议员入境。萨尔周二表示：“英国此举在道德上是扭曲的，是对一个主权国家事务及其选举进程的公然干涉。”

内塔尼亚胡上个月在播客节目中将英国称为“英国伊斯兰共和国”，并指责法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙承认巴勒斯坦国是助长反犹主义。

尽管与一些西方盟友的关系日渐冷淡，甚至连友好的美国特朗普政府似乎也对定居者暴力行为越来越感到不满，但以色列一直在向其他地区投入精力，并重新绘制其关系图景。

萨尔宣布2026年为“南美年”，并访问了阿根廷、厄瓜多尔、巴拉圭和哥伦比亚，恢复了与玻利维亚、智利和洪都拉斯的关系。他还自2009年以来首次与委内瑞拉建立了沟通渠道，并于上个月派遣救援队协助地震救援。

以色列在赞比亚、爱沙尼亚、摩尔多瓦、斐济和斯洛文尼亚开设了新的大使馆。以色列也成为世界上第一个承认索马里兰共和国为独立国家的国家。随后，索马里兰在耶路撒冷开设了大使馆，目前只有不到10个国家在耶路撒冷设有大使馆，其中包括美国。阿根廷、哥伦比亚、哥斯达黎加和刚果民主共和国已宣布有意加入这一行列。

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以色列极右翼势力以日益极端的主张争夺选票

以色列前驻法国大使丹尼尔·谢克认为，这种政策转向是有代价的，并表示政府正在破坏几十年来在经济、科学、文化和安全等共同利益基础上建立起来的关系。

他说：“他们正在牺牲与最重要国家的联盟关系。如果萨尔认为巴拉圭经济可以取代法国成为进出口伙伴，那对他来说是好事。”

他说，参与制裁的国家并非在意识形态上敌视以色列，只是反对以色列在内塔尼亚胡、本·格维尔和斯莫特里奇领导下的行为。“法国、英国、意大利、荷兰都是友好国家，他们对以色列政府的行为感到厌倦。”

谢克指出，制裁针对的是定居点，而非以色列本身，而且就目前而言，其实际效果有限。但他表示，不应低估这些制裁的影响。

他说：“一旦实施制裁，影响就非常重大。有些事情已经打开，无法再重新装回去了。”