Middle East and North Africa

The billions of dollars that Israel will rake in from a recently announced defense deal with Greece will greatly help the Israeli economy after the country has fought three different wars in the past three years. The benefits, however, far outweigh the pecuniary relief. For a country increasingly isolated on the global stage, defense deals have proved the most reliable answer to its search for allies.

For decades, Israel has steadily approached countries beyond its immediate neighborhood that it sees as hostile. This year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to a hexagonal alliance: Israel, Cyprus, Greece, India, and two unnamed Arab and African countries, presumably including the United Arab Emirates. In recent years, Israel has expanded defense relationships with all of these countries.

The billions of dollars that Israel will rake in from a recently announced defense deal with Greece will greatly help the Israeli economy after the country has fought three different wars in the past three years. The benefits, however, far outweigh the pecuniary relief. For a country increasingly isolated on the global stage, defense deals have proved the most reliable answer to its search for allies.

For decades, Israel has steadily approached countries beyond its immediate neighborhood that it sees as hostile. This year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to a hexagonal alliance: Israel, Cyprus, Greece, India, and two unnamed Arab and African countries, presumably including the United Arab Emirates. In recent years, Israel has expanded defense relationships with all of these countries.

“In the vision I see before me, we will create an entire system, essentially a ‘hexagon’ of alliances around or within the Middle East,” Netanyahu said in February. “The intention here is to create an axis of nations that see eye to eye on the reality, challenges, and goals against the radical axes, both the radical Shiite axis”—referencing Iran and its proxies—“and the emerging radical Sunni axis,” referencing Qatar, Syria, and Turkey.

The alliance Israel wants is still elusive; for now, it is a patchwork of bilateral defense deals. Yet a new economic alliance is shaping up: the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which would go from India to the UAE and then through Israel to Greece, bypassing Turkey. However, it remains unclear if Saudi Arabia is still on board and if and when this........

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