Like the two least popular kids in high school befriending each other, Israel and Somaliland recently established diplomatic relations, to the usual handwringing from our adversaries. Halfway across the world, the United States kidnapped Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them to the US to stand trial for drug smuggling and other crimes.
Much of the world is unhappy about the latter although there is not much they can do about it except gripe. The United Nations is feckless except for its routine denunciations of Israel, and the US veto in the UN Security Council precludes that body taking any practical steps. Even the General Assembly will be muted because of the nations’ fear of inciting President Trump’s wrath against them.
There are already mass protests in the United States and globally against the abduction, notwithstanding that it should be difficult to muster any sympathy for a mass murdering, drug smuggling, human trafficking dictator. But then again, many of these same protesters are ardent supporters of Hamas and violently anti-Israel.
We need not speculate how the world would react if Israel ever tried such a stunt - because we already have. Every incursion into our neighbor’s territory in our own defense (Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Iran) is immediately denounced as a violation of international law, regardless of circumstances or provocation. And when Israel did kidnap Adolph Eichmann from Argentina in May 1960 and to try him in Israel for war crimes, Israel was denounced by the UN (UNSC Resolution 138) for this “violation of the sovereignty" of Argentina that caused “international friction" for which Israel was urged to make “appropriate reparation." The resolution passed unanimously, with American support, although the Soviet Union and Poland abstained. The resolution did acknowledge and refused to condone the “odious crimes" of which Eichmann was charged.
Are there lessons that we can derive from both these incidents - Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and the US seizure of Maduro? One lesson for us would be to act more and talk less. Days after the attack, there is still no mention of US or Venezuelan casualties. Another, and the primary lesson, is that we have to better learn how to advance our national interests by making daring decisions after rationally assessing all options and consequences rather than being perpetually reactive.
Accordingly, in retrospect, it is surprising that we did not recognize Somaliland until now. Somaliland, a territory on the horn of Africa almost eight times our size, has never been part of neighboring Somalia and had long fought them (primarily a struggle of clans) until declaring its independence in 1991. Somaliland is a Muslim country that sought friendly relations with Israel, as opposed to Somalia which has always boycotted us and has rebuffed our outreach for more than a half century. And now Somaliland reportedly offers Israel not only friendship, but a military base that is in close proximity to Yemen and its Houthi rebels, as well as a possible locale for resettlement of a hostile Gazan population. Win, win, win.
Now that Somaliland’s diplomatic isolation has ended, perhaps other countries will follow suit. Leaving its land in diplomatic limbo for more than seventy years sounds ridiculous. But we foolishly do the same thing.
Israel has never been proactive in promoting our interests. For well over fifty years, we have allowed the status of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza to remain disputed, never declaring sovereignty or even staking a formal claim. Instead, we tolerated this ambiguity to our detriment, negotiating agreements based on fantasies that facilitated the rise of hostile forces with subsequent torrents of terror and wild claims to statehood. That failure is on us and our leadership.
Innovative ideas are usually kicked down the road, with decisions often delayed “until the Prime Minister returns from Washington," as happened years ago with sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and weeks ago with the municipal plans to rebuild the Atarot neighborhood in north Jerusalem. Both were “temporarily" shelved to “avoid a confrontation," which begs the question, if they are both right and just, then why don’t we? Why don’t we act in our national interest? Why do we subjugate our rights to the considerations of other nations?
While constructive ambiguity may have its place in diplomacy, it has most often weakened us and strengthened our enemies.
Take a few other examples. Last year, Israel declared it would penalize countries that recognized a “state" of Palestine but literally nothing has happened. France’s illegal consulate in Jerusalem remains open, conducting nefarious anti-Israel activities in gross violation of Israeli law. The Turkish consulate in Jerusalem explicitly declared itself its “Embassy to Palestine," and other Turkish agencies located in Jerusalem still engage in consistent incitement and anti-Israel activities. All these provocations are met by Israel with empty bluster but nothing ever actually happens.
Additionally, the UK was one of those countries that recognized a “Palestine" and thus seeks to deprive us of the heart of our ancestral homeland. Why not, in turn, appreciate the current friendship and support of Argentina by recognizing the Falkland Islands - still claimed by Argentina, a few hundred miles off the Argentinian coast, and distant from Britain by approximately 8,000 miles (!) - as rightful Argentinian territory? Admittedly, the symbolism of our recognition is greater than the practical effect - but isn’t recognition of a “Palestine" more symbol than substance?
For too long, we have left diplomatic, political, and territorial vacuums, which are then invariably filled with initiatives, policies, and actions that are inimical to our well-being. Granted, we are not a world superpower like the United States that can act with impunity. But we are more powerful than we think, and our power should be used to reward our friends, punish our enemies, and conserve and develop our land for future generations - rather than just kicking the can down the road and making idle threats.
At a certain point, we will run out of road, as has happened before, and what filled those vacuums were catastrophes like Oslo, the Gaza Expulsion, repeatedly mowing the lawn in Lebanon and Gaza to little effect, October 7, and a “state" of Palestine now recognized by 157 countries.
With Iran and its proxies weakened, and Venezuela - an ally of Hamas and a sanctuary for Islamic terrorists - temporarily sidelined as a global threat, it is time to be proactive, identify our national interests, promote them, and achieve them.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Esq. serves as the Senior Research Associate for the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy and the Israel Region Vice-President of the Coalition for Jewish Values and is the author of six books including “The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility" (Gefen Publishing).