Will Israeli flags be coming down in unionist parts of Northern Ireland now that Israel is insulting and threatening the UK?
This week’s row over British sanctions against illegal settlements could be dismissed as an argument between two governments, rather than between two countries or groups of people. The Conservatives at Westminster are trying to portray it at as such and unionist parties are attempting the same. But that distinction will be difficult to sustain as Israeli government figures dismiss British sovereignty over the Falklands and rant against the UK in general. Most people will rally around their own flag once they feel it is under attack. Pro-Israeli voices are bound to start mentioning Northern Ireland as another territory Britain deserves to lose. That will be nasty shock for several unionist politicians.
There has always been scepticism about Israel among unionists of all persuasions, from liberals to loyalists. Israel has had a difficult relationship with Britain throughout its history. Some unionist support for Israel is based on religious or political conviction but some is undoubtedly shallow tribalism – a reaction to Irish support for Palestinians. It could easily melt away.
Most unionists are probably not giving the subject much thought. Certainly, there is no comparison with nationalism’s political, media and activist engagement. The clearest manifestation of unionist interest in Israel, apart from flags on lamp-posts, comes during council and Stormont debates, usually involving a nationalist motion that unionist representatives reactively oppose. These debates take up an extraordinary amount of political time. Israel features in about a quarter of Belfast City Council full meetings and one in 10 Stormont plenary sessions, despite neither body having any remit over foreign policy, defence, trade, refugees or anything else related to a conflict 2,500 miles away. The debates are angry because they are futile grandstanding, spreading divisiveness into wider politics. A row last December over flying a Palestinian flag from Belfast City Hall led to street clashes, albeit involving small numbers of people.
Unionist politicians also proactively support Israel. Last October, representatives from all three unionist parties travelled to Israel as guests of its government for a six-day fact-finding tour. The attendees included DUP Minister for Education Paul Givan, who faced an assembly vote of no confidence on his return. As with all such votes at Stormont, this was blocked by a community veto, although not before it had caused another toxic row. A subsequent opinion poll indicated around half of unionist voters believed the politicians should have accepted the invitation to Israel. One quarter disagreed and the remainder did not know or had no opinion.
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If unionists begin rethinking their support for Israel there may be fewer flags on lamp-posts and, more importantly, fewer arguments over a needless cause of political friction. Nationalists will still bring their motions but unionists may be far less inclined to pour energy into rebutting them.
There have been no more trips to Israel since last year. Unionist politicians have already picked up a signal from the electorate that they should be putting their time to better use. All of this is very parochial, even for Northern Ireland, compared to the impact of Britain repositioning itself in the world.
The sanctions were announced in co-ordination with Canada and 10 European countries, including Ireland. The UK accepted how unwise it was to step slightly away from the United States on its own. Even then, it reportedly briefed Israel and Washington that the sanctions will have little effect. The UK has acted like a normal second-tier country, deciding its own agenda and firmly but carefully advancing it through ad hoc alliances. This differs significantly from the UK’s usual posture as a global player and uniquely close ally of the United States. It indicates a realistic self-assessment of what has long been the UK’s true international standing.
Netanyahu calls UK ‘the Islamic Republic of Britain’
Some of the complaints heard from Israel this week have been of British colonial arrogance, of the former imperial power still telling people in other countries what to do. This tiresome cliche misses the point. The British establishment knows it runs a faded power. Its lingering patrician arrogance is to believe that even British declinism is the best declinism in the world, the most influential and sophisticated – Greece to America’s Rome, to use the only phrase in British diplomacy worse than “special relationship”.
The UK does not defend its selfish interests like some vulgar ordinary nation. It will even give territory away to demonstrate its superiority. In 1980, it wanted to give the Falklands to Argentina and lease them back, which Argentina interpreted purely as weakness. It is currently trying to pay Mauritius to take the Chagos islands. Unionists have always feared Northern Ireland will be next. They might have a little more confidence in a country that seems a little more like everywhere else.