Friends of Israel Initiative

Established in 2010 under Aznar's leadership, the initiative brought together prominent non-Israeli figures from several continents.[4][1] It supports Israel's right to exist and defend itself while allowing members to criticize particular Israeli governments or policies.[3] Its advocacy centers on opposing what members describe as delegitimization and on emphasizing values they see Israel as sharing with the wider Western world.[3][2]

The Friends of Israel Initiative traces its origins to a June 17, 2010 opinion piece Aznar published in The Times, in which he announced plans to promote a "new Friends of Israel initiative" alongside a group of prominent international figures.[3] The article cited growing concern about what Aznar viewed as aggression against Israel and a perceived erosion of Western values as the motivating forces behind the project.[3]

Speaking to the World Jewish Congress in September 2010, Aznar described the initiative as a project formed with personal friends "a few months ago" and characterized its membership as drawn from different continents, consisting of "non-Israelis and mainly non-Jews."[4] He situated the founding in the context of what he viewed as an international campaign to delegitimize Israel, including the public reaction to Israeli soldiers intercepting a flotilla headed to Gaza.[4] A 2011 CAMERA article quoted the initiative's stated rationale as "a sense of deep concern about the unprecedented campaign of delegitimization against Israel waged by the enemies of the Jewish State."[5]

In his September address, Aznar said the initiative had already been in Paris and London and planned a launch in Washington, D.C. He expressed hope that European—and mainly non-Jewish—voices could contribute to the debate in the United States.[4]

Aznar's founding opinion piece named prominent people helping with the initiative: David Trimble, the former Northern Ireland First Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate; historian Andrew Roberts; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo; Marcello Pera, philosopher and former President of the Italian Senate; Italian author and politician Fiamma Nirenstein; financier Robert Agostinelli; and Catholic intellectual George Weigel.[3][6]

Fiamma Nirenstein was a founding member of the initiative and served in Italy's parliament from 2008 to 2013, including as vice president of the Chamber of Deputies' Committee on Foreign Affairs.[7] Andrew Roberts, a visiting professor in the War Studies Department at King's College London, was likewise a founder member.[8] A 2011 report identified former Czech President Václav Havel as a founding member.[5]

Membership expanded in subsequent years. A 2014 report named former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg among its members.[9] Former Uruguayan President Luis Alberto Lacalle stated in a 2018 interview that Aznar had invited him to join the initiative approximately five years earlier, and he named former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana Arango as a fellow member.[10]

The initiative has combined public advocacy with private outreach. In 2015, Aznar said it preferred discreet engagement and direct, candid conversations with politicians and businesspeople. He said the aim was to explain what members saw as the consequences of Israel's delegitimization without amplifying the BDS movement's activities.[6]

That year, the organization sponsored a visit to Israel by eleven former generals and senior security officials led by former German chief of staff General Klaus Naumann.[6] The delegation submitted a report to the UN committee investigating the 2014 Gaza war. The report concluded that Israel had not initiated the fighting and that the Israel Defense Forces had observed the laws of war, while Hamas fighters committed war crimes.[6] These were the delegation's attributed assessments, submitted as part of the broader international debate over the conflict.

Aznar also devoted time to the initiative after leaving political office, alongside his work at the FAES research institute and the newly launched Atlantic Institute for Governance.[6] Lacalle described the initiative's work more broadly as disseminating what he called the Israeli perspective to audiences around the world.[10]

The initiative's core purpose is to counter delegitimization efforts targeting Israel and to foster what it describes as a more rational international discussion of the Jewish state.[2] Aznar was explicit that it was not intended to defend any particular Israeli government or policy and that its sponsors might disagree with decisions made in Jerusalem.[3] The unifying principle, he stated, was support for Israel's right to exist and defend itself.[3]

Aznar tied support for Israel to shared values and strategic interests, calling Israel a Western nation and an ally in a strategically important region.[3] During a 2014 meeting with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Toledo stated that supporters of Israel were defending their own values and interests rather than acting charitably.[9] Aznar told Edelstein that the initiative held a personal commitment to Israel's existence, democracy, and future.[9]

The initiative described its advocacy aims as presenting Israel as a normal democratic country—one with both the virtues and imperfections of any democracy—rather than an idealized image.[4] Aznar said the group sought to respond to what he characterized as overly emotional and irrational discourse with "reason and decency."[4]

Because the initiative is an advocacy forum, some public claims associated with it are presented as positions rather than as independently established findings. This includes Aznar's description of an international campaign to delegitimize Israel and the 2015 delegation's conclusions about responsibility for the Gaza war and compliance with the laws of war.[4][6]