Out of Sight, Out of Mind: China's Drilling Strategy for Its Soft Power Pipes in Israel

Abstract

We proposed a theoretical conceptualization and identified China’s operating strategy (“drilling targets”) for its soft power “pipes” in Israel. These “pipes” are consciously directed towards a certain elite that tends to uphold the human rights discourse on behalf of the general public but even more so vis-à-vis decision-makers. China, in turn, can obtain legitimization for its involvement in the Israeli economy by investing in initiatives promoting the interests and values upheld by this elite rather than in peripheral social initiatives. Meanwhile, the same Israeli elite persists in its heightened sensitivity to human rights violations vis-à-vis the Palestinian population but does not go out of its way, to say the least, to protest alleged violations of human rights in China. Thus it invites or legitimizes Chinese involvement in the Israeli economy. It has been “co-opted” by China. These elite communities, which are highly sensitive to violations of human rights in their close vicinity, are able to overlook such violations when they are carried out far away by those who invest billions in areas of interest to the elites.