An American Military Organization or a European Political Alliance? Israeli Views of NATO

In a January 2016 national survey of Israeli attitudes toward Europe and the
European Union (EU), 45 percent of those surveyed supported the idea of
Israel joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a full
member, simply because NATO countries would help Israel defend itself.1 Yet,
despite this wide public support, NATO has never obtained a central place in
Israeli foreign policy, security, political, and social discourse. One of the reasons
for this lack of centrality has to do with Israeli perceptions of the Alliance, the
three most salient of which are explored in this article. By providing empirical findings concerning the attitudes of Israeli public opinion, and that of the political and
military elites, this article offers insights into the overall assessment on the part of
key Israeli stakeholders of NATO’s global and regional actorness.