As foreign elections shape Israel’s alliances, Jerusalem seeks to control the diplomatic whiplash

Foreign elections increasingly shape Israel's alliances, leading to dramatic policy shifts. For instance, Colombia, under its new right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella, recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights and plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem, a stark reversal from the previous left-wing government's anti-Israel stance. Similarly, Slovenia's new right-wing government under Janez Janša revoked arms trade restrictions, moved to reverse Palestinian state recognition, and announced an embassy relocation to Jerusalem, prompting Israel to open its first embassy in Ljubljana. These rapid changes occur because Israel has become an ideological marker in other countries' domestic politics, with support for Israel signifying right-wing identity and opposition signaling left-wing progressive identity. These high-visibility symbolic measures, such as embassy moves or state recognition, are easily implemented and reversed, often carrying high ideological rewards with low immediate domestic risk. To counter this diplomatic volatility, Israel seeks to intertwine military, intelligence, and business ties with other nations, making these relationships too critical to sever, regardless of a country's political leadership. As former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer stated, "being important to that country becomes more critical" than shared values.