A Hebrew opinion piece argues that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar’s decision to cut ties with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is not diplomacy but a surrender of influence. The author says such moves may create headlines, but real foreign policy is meant to shape both allies and adversaries, especially during disputes. In the current deep crisis in Israel-Europe relations, the piece says, Israel needs more dialogue and fewer boycotts, because a “vacant chair” does not exert pressure.
The column extends that criticism to Israel’s handling of Hungary after Peter Magyar won the election there. It says Jerusalem failed to understand the political change in Budapest, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among the last leaders to congratulate Magyar. The author says Israeli media prematurely portrayed Magyar as a left-wing figure who would drift away from Israel, but describes him instead as a national-conservative who wants Hungary to remain engaged inside the European Union and to influence it from within.
The writer argues that Israel made the mistake of relying for years on its exceptional relationship with Viktor Orban and assuming personal friendship could replace a broader European strategy. Foreign policy, it says, cannot depend on one leader because governments change. Hungary will remain one of Israel’s closest EU allies, but its support will be guided first by Hungarian national interests and by Budapest’s standing inside the bloc.
As an example of continued cooperation, the article notes that Hungary condemned Iran’s recent missile attack on Israel, and it says Kallas and the EU also condemned it. The piece concludes that Israel should have used that moment to deepen cooperation with Brussels, not escalate the confrontation. It says the Israel-Germany model, close cooperation alongside disagreements, is a better framework than “Sparta” style isolation, and ends by calling isolation a diplomatic failure.
Globes
