JNS: Japan’s first female premier expected to further ties with Israel

Japan’s newly elected first female prime minister is expected to promote bilateral ties with Israel due to her strong alliance with the United States, Israeli analysts said on Thursday.

The election of Sanae Takaichi of Japan’s long-ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party comes amid the U.S. brokered ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel is seeking to strengthen its international alliances.

“When Japan looks to the outside world it always looks at the United States,” Hebrew University professor Nissim Otzmagin told JNS. “A pro-America policy [in Japan] is good news for Israel.”

Takaichi, a security hawk who is due to host President Donald Trump in Tokyo next week, was a protege of assassinated former Japanese premier Shinzo Abe, who was a close friend of Trump’s during his first administration and maintained warm relations with Israel.

Otzmagin noted that Japan was pointedly not among the Western countries that recently unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state in the face of American opposition, even though it supports the idea in principle.

“Japan’s policies are more aligned with the United States than Europe,” he added.

Takaichi cited the Japan-U.S. alliance as a “cornerstone” of Japanese diplomacy and stressed that Japan is an indispensable partner for America in its strategy to provide counterweights to China in the Indo-Pacific region.

“She is very pro-American and less connected with Asia due to their own interests and challenges from both North Korea and China,” said professor Sigal Ben-Rafael Galanti of Beit Berl College in an interview with JNS. “It is critical for Japan that the United States plays a very active role in the region, and so it is important to them to develop friendships with America’s allies, like Israel.”

She noted that as a technologically developed country without natural raw materials, Japan is dependent on resources, adding that Israel’s high-tech expertise is a great boon for the relationship.

While Takaichi made history by becoming the first female leader of a country where men still largely hold sway, she also holds a traditionally nationalistic position domestically, which jibes with both Trump’s vision of “America First” and a strong Israeli nationalism, said the Israeli professor.

“She will see Israel as an important partner,” Ben-Rafael Galanti added.

“We hope and believe that she will be an ally to the Western alliance,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in an address to the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus this week.

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