‘’Europe is more secure, more innovative and more relevant on the world stage thanks to the tools Israel provides: from unmanned aerial vehicles to intelligence; from energy to pharmaceuticals; and from particle accelerators to high tech start-up,’’ a new report shows.
The report by Oren Kessler titled ‘’Added Value: Israel’s Strategic Worth to the European Union and its Member States ‘’ is a joint project of the Henri Jackson Society, a London-based thin-tank, and the Friends of Israel Initiative, an organisation based in Madrid and headed by former Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.
‘’In the report we sought to determine to what extend Israel represents a strategic asset to the EU and that by virtually all key parameters, Europe is better off with Israel than without it,’’ Kessler, a Fellow Research at te Henri Jackson Society, told a meeting of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel chaired by Dutch MEP Bastiaan Belder.
‘’For years a small but growing anti-Israel campaign has waged tireless assaults on Israel’s reputation, portraying it not only as a liability and burden to Europe but as an illegimate state that needs to be isolated and boycotted,’’ he said.
Europeans often base their support for Israel on the fact that it is a western-oriented democracy sharing the same values : free speech, human rights, women’s rights, minority rights…
Another argument often heard is that Europe has a special responsibility to the survival of the Jewish people given the continent dark history of anti-Semitism that culminated with the Holocaust.
But the report goes beyond the values and history and rather consider strategic advantages Europe gaines from his links to Israel, especially in three key arenas : security, economics and science and technology.
Contrary to news reports of EU-Israel disagreements – such as last year’s European Commission directives to label Israeli goods from the West Bank – by the most important measures, the EU’s relations with Israel are closer than at any time in the Union’s history.
With nearly 30 billion euros in bilateral trade, the EU is Israel’s top source of imports, while Israel is Europe’s leading trade partner in the Eastern Mediterranean. And while the European economy continues to falter, EU exports to Israel are growing by roughly 5% a year.
The EU enjoys a positive balance of trade with Israel, amounting to 4.3 billion euros.
The report also shows that Israel provides invaluable counter-terrorism intelligence that keeps Europeans secure, while Israeli military technology protects EU troops in the field in Afghanistan, Mali and beyond. 50 % of Israeli drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAV) are exported to Europe, mainly to Britain, Germany, Poland, Holland and Spain.
‘’Few Europeans are aware that Israeli technology safeguards such iconic symbols as Buckingham Palace, Heathrow Airport, the Eifell Tower and the Vatican,’’ Kessler mentioned.
A world leader in high-tech innovation, Israel is vital in keeping Europe competitive in science and technological. That is why Israel is the only non-European country included in the EU Framework Programmes, the guiding blueprints for EU scientific research and in the newly launched Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation.
‘’Israel has discovered large natural-gas fields, in recent years, which could have enormous consequences for a Europe eager to wean itself off energy from countries like Russia and the Persian Gulf States,’’ the report says.
In the conclusions, the report writes: “We Europeans will be unable to emerge from our present crises secure, innovative and diplomatically significant without strong state-to-state relations at home and healthy alliances with strategic partners in our neighbourhood. We must start by acknowledging and enhancing our crucial strategic relationship with the State of Israel.”
It recommends a ''full upgrade'' in EU-Israel relations ''which would grant an official, symbolic imprimatur to the growing Europe-Israel relationship.''