Monaco and Israel: A Relationship That Could Become a Model for 21st-Century Diplomacy
“When two countries not only cooperate, but use their relationship to serve the wider world”
By Gastón Saidman
Relations between Monaco and Israel are strong and longstanding. Over the years, the two countries have developed diplomatic, institutional, and people-to-people ties. In 2018, Monaco Friends of Israel was officially established with the aim of strengthening exchanges between the two countries. The following year, Monaco formally authorized Israel’s Honorary Consul to carry out his functions in the Principality.
That same year, His Serene Highness Prince Albert II visited Tel Aviv, where he received an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University. During that visit, he also spoke of a shared responsibility toward nature, future generations, and our planet.
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Fuente: Palais Princier de Monaco
The relationship is already well established. But perhaps the time has come to ask a different question:
What if it could become much more?
Monaco could turn its relationship with Israel into a model for 21st-century diplomacy
Not a military alliance. Not a conventional economic partnership. And not simply a political statement. Rather, a partnership built around knowledge, innovation, science, humanity, and the protection of our planet.
Monaco and Israel possess very different strengths and precisely because of that, they may be remarkably complementary.
Israel has developed internationally recognized expertise in areas such as water, agriculture, medicine, technology, and innovation.
Monaco, meanwhile, has built a distinctive international identity around ocean protection, biodiversity, environmental stewardship, philanthropy, and international cooperation.
The question should not simply be what Monaco can gain from Israel, or what Israel can gain from Monaco.
The more important question is:
What could they achieve together that neither could achieve in quite the same way alone?
From the Mediterranean to the World
The Mediterranean could become the natural laboratory for this new form of cooperation.
Water scarcity, climate change, marine pollution, biodiversity loss, food security, energy, and public health are challenges that do not stop at national borders. Monaco could contribute its ability to convene, its environmental expertise, its scientific and philanthropic networks, and its international reach.
Israel could contribute technology, research, innovation, and practical experience.
Universities, scientists, companies, foundations, and humanitarian organizations could bring these strengths together and turn them into concrete projects. The goal would not simply be to exchange knowledge, but to turn knowledge into measurable impact.
A water technology could help a Mediterranean region facing scarcity. A marine innovation could contribute to the protection of vulnerable ecosystems. A medical partnership could improve lives. Research carried out jointly by scientists from both countries could ultimately benefit communities far beyond their borders.
At that point, the relationship would no longer be exclusively bilateral.
It would become a platform for international service.
The Power of a Small State
Monaco does not need to be large to have influence. In some respects, its size can be an advantage.
It can convene. It can connect. It can create spaces for dialogue. It can bring scientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, universities, and public officials to the same table without seeking to compete with the great powers. Its role can be different.
Monaco can be a bridge
A bridge between innovation and humanity. Between technology and real-world needs. Between those who have solutions and those who need them.
That could represent a particularly powerful form of modern diplomacy.
Beyond Politics
A deeper relationship with Israel would not mean that Monaco must become an advocate for every position taken by the Israeli government.
On the contrary, Monaco’s strength could lie precisely in maintaining a broader perspective: promoting dialogue, peace, cooperation, human dignity, and assistance to populations affected by conflict.
Monaco could demonstrate that it is possible to maintain a close relationship with Israel while also using that relationship to build bridges. Because the diplomacy of the future should not be limited to choosing sides.
It should also be about creating solutions.
A Common Mission
One can imagine a permanent Monaco–Israel platform focused on five major areas: water, oceans, medicine, sustainable innovation, and humanitarian action.
Albert at the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands at UNESCO Paris, 2010
(Wikipedia)
But the purpose should not be to create another institution for its own sake. The purpose should be to deliver results.
Every project should be able to answer one simple question:
Who will this help?
If the answer is a community, an ecosystem, a hospital, a researcher, a young entrepreneur, or even an entire country, then cooperation takes on a different meaning.
Monaco and Israel already have a relationship. The contacts exist. The goodwill exists.
What may be missing is a vision ambitious enough to connect everything that is already there. That vision could become one of the most compelling legacies of this relationship.
Not to make Monaco simply another ally of Israel, nor Israel simply another partner of Monaco, but to make both countries partners in a mission that transcends them both.
Because the true measure of a relationship between two states should not be only how much they receive from one another.
It should also be:
How much can they give together to the rest of the world?
Monaco and Israel already have a relationship. The next step could be to give it a mission.
