Building Israeli-European Alliances

The European-Israeli relationship is an ambivalent one. On the one hand it is characterized by economic, political, and academic cooperation, but on the other there are reservations and distorted views of each other.

In order to dismantle stereotypes and bring about further rapprochement, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung promotes intensive exchanges of information between Israel and Europe. It seeks to counter the widespread ignorance of the European Union which is to be found in Israel, together with the underestimation of its possibilities. In doing so it focuses both on high-ranking decision-makers in the entire party spectrum, and also on opinion disseminators in civil society.

European-Israeli relations are one of the pillars of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s work in Israel, and they are therefore of importance as a cross-cutting issue for many projects. In addition, European experts actively bring European positions into Israel’s political discourse, and experts’ reports about Israel and Europe are made known in the relevant countries.

In addition, exchanges are promoted in the areas of youth work, as well as social, security, and foreign policy.