Upon the third anniversary of the Hamas attack, practically every Israeli thought back to October 7th and the days that followed. Our memories. How it felt. How that day found each of us and how it changed our lives forever.
What fewer of us remembered – at this point in time – is how our friends around the world actually responded in those very first days. After 1,200 of our citizens were murdered and 251 taken hostage in Gaza, the Brandenburg Gate and the Eiffel Tower were lit in blue and white. Within two and a half weeks, the American President, the German Chancellor, the British and Greek Prime Ministers, and the French President had all come to Israel.
We remember other scenes, too – the protests that broke out against Israel on campus grounds in the West, while our communities were still burning. That was vile antisemitism, stoked by people who have always hated us and always will.
But the truth of those first days is that our friends and allies stood with Israel as they never had before. We were embraced, not marginalized.
Three years on, the picture has flipped. In a Pew survey conducted between February and May 2026 across 36 countries, 67% of respondents held a negative view of Israel. In the United States, our most important ally, 60% of adults now see Israel unfavorably, up from 42% in 2022.
The UK, France, Canada, and Australia recognized a Palestinian state in September 2025. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister and the former Defense Minister. And several key countries have recently imposed an unprecedented package of indiscriminate sanctions against any Jewish presence beyond the 1949 Armistice lines, in response to the persistent pattern of violence perpetrated by extremists.
Much of this is the result of misinformation and an organized campaign of hatred against Israel in the international arena, in the media, and on college campuses around the world. The hatred we watched fill some streets on October 7th now threatens to become a fixture of mainstream Western politics. The driving force behind this is Qatar, which has spent its endless billions to advance an Islamist agenda that counts the destruction of Israel among its aims.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted 15 resolutions on Israel, against 11 for the entire rest of the world combined, including one each for Iran and North Korea. Since 2006, the Human Rights Council has passed more than 110 resolutions against Israel, compared with 16 against Iran and 11 against Russia. Over those same years, the war in Sudan grew into what the UN itself called the largest humanitarian crisis on earth: some 34 million people in need of aid, famine declared across parts of Darfur and Kordofan. In November 2025, on the very day a General Assembly committee passed six resolutions on Israel, it passed none on Sudan. This is not only a moral disgrace. In practical terms, as events have shown, the pattern of denunciations helps perpetuate the conflict rather than resolve it, insofar as it feeds Palestinian expectations that the Zionist project will simply wilt and vanish in the not too distant future.
And yet, Qatar’s campaign and the world’s double standards do not fully explain the decline in Israel’s standing. The erosion has reached friendly nations and audiences that stood with us for decades. In the United States today, 41% of Republicans hold a negative view of Israel. As many have said, Israel today doesn’t have a “Democrats problem” – it has an America problem. In Europe the problem runs even deeper, even among traditional supporters.
We did not have to end up here. For three years the present Israeli government has been more or less asleep at the wheel while Qatar and its allies waged a hybrid war against us in the diplomatic arena, and more significantly, in the battles over hearts and minds.
Israel’s leaders have failed to recognize that diplomatic standing and international legitimacy (among other, more “kinetic” tools) is a weapon of war – that’s why our enemies are so hellbent on targeting it. It goes well beyond what helps enable soldiers to do their jobs. I spent years as an Israeli economic attaché in Asia, where my job was to sell Israeli exports and draw in investors. Our diplomatic standing is crucial to keeping our economy going. The loss of international legitimacy carries a very real price, both in terms of security and also in deals that go unsigned and opportunities that never come. Not protecting it costs our country dearly – in money, in jobs and yes, also in lives.
One of the most urgent tasks of Israel’s next government will be to fix this – and a plan to do just that has been formulated by the B’Yachad Party, led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett . That work would start in a few key places. First, alongside forming a new “Unit 8300” to put our best minds to work repairing and managing Israel’s public diplomacy apparatus, we simply must put an end to self-inflicted wounds. Ministers have put the applause of their political base, through reckless statements, above the security and best interests of our country. From calling for the starvation of children to talking of using nuclear weapons in Gaza, words which in no way can be seen as a true reflection of Israel’s values or policy, their words have done real damage to Israel’s standing, and worse, they have made it harder for our friends to stand beside us. At The Hague, such statements by ministers and Members of Knesset were even entered as evidence against the state. The next government will ensure – as did the one which preceded the present coalition – that this would not occur again.
Next is restoring our credibility. This begins with maintaining strong interpersonal relationships and trust with world leaders: but it also means having clear plans and a coherent vision, as opposed to this government which, for example, didn’t have a vision at all for Gaza for years following October 7th, until it signed on an agreement which it then supported when speaking in English, but then sometimes says it doesn’t really support it when speaking in Hebrew… Enough. Israel needs clear plans and principles. Opposition to a Palestinian state. Ridding Gaza of Hamas, and barring the influence of Qatar and Turkey. Preventing a nuclear Iran and toppling its regime. Leveraging Israel’s assets and expertise to deepen alliances with moderate partners in the Middle East.
Another key step is what many like to call returning to basics. In the United States, our most important strategic ally, that means working vigorously to restore bipartisan support for Israel. The previous “change” government proved that it is possible to responsibly manage disagreements with our allies without endless drama. It quietly prevented the establishment by then-President Biden of an American Consulate in East Jerusalem without any public confrontation. With Europe, Israel’s largest trading partner, we have to reject this government’s failed approach of boycotting those who criticize us and playing “embassy roulette” – opening and closing embassies in countries based on who was friendly last month. Instead, we have to take a long-term approach and find ways to engage harder and smarter, including, yes, countries that are difficult towards us. Ultimately, it is the government’s job to maintain trade, security, and other important areas of ties for the benefit of Israelis – despite diplomatic disagreements. With Jewish communities around the world, we have to stand with and support those who have always stood with us – and that includes showing them respect here in Israel.
Three years ago, great democracies lit their monuments in blue and white. That solidarity was real – and it can be won back. But it will not return on its own, and it will not return under leaders who treat our vital friendships as political tools to leverage for their own survival. It will take a government with the plans and team to fix what’s broken. Together.
