Israel is the only Western country that still has an instinctive understanding of what it means to live under permanent existential threat. As the European Union's power in the field of security and defense is very limited, it is therefore easy for Israelis to altogether dismiss the EU as a strategically important foreign policy power, and Brussels is often seen as a place that knows just babble but no action. Here are the reasons why this dismissal is a mistake and why Israel should cultivate its relations with the EU to the maximum.

First, Brussels is no foreign policy town, but it is a trade town. And in the field of trade, the European Parliament - the most Israel-critical of EU institutions - matters a great deal. The dispute over goods imported to Europe from Israeli settlements in the West Bank illustrates this. The European institutions need to be engaged very actively by Israeli diplomacy at the highest level. This should include the prime minister. Unlike many Israelis believe, the Europeans are not lost cases.

Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, the refugee crisis will, after some considerable political pain, likely bring Europeans closer together instead of driving them apart. A more unified European approach to asylum policy, border controls, development aid, and military cooperation in the EU's southern neighborhood will inevitably have an impact on Israel. The Brussels institutions will not be the driving force behind these new policies, but they will be the clearinghouse for them, and they will implement some of them. Israel will want to be heard when that happens.

Third, the EU owns the only non-military strategic tool the West can bring to bear in the Middle East and North Africa: the opening of the EU markets for goods produced and manufactured in the region. So far, the EU's single market is closed off to many businesses from the region, thereby denying them the welfare effects, which increased trade almost always brings. It is in the Western, and therefore in the Israeli interest, to tear down protectionist European policies. Israel should make that case very vehemently in Brussels.

Finally, Brussels is the place where small EU countries that would otherwise have no weight in international affairs have veto powers over EU foreign policy. Many of their most capable diplomats spend their formative and most influential years in Brussels. How Brussels thinks and debates about Israel will stay with them for the rest of their professional lives. Reason enough to get involved in the Brussels scene as deeply as possible. The long-term benefits could well be significant.

Israel has in the past sent some of its most accomplished diplomats to Brussels. But diplomacy also needs to be done by politicians, not just ambassadors and civil servants. The institutional setup of the EU often looks confusing, but a strong investment into understanding and navigating it better will almost certainly pay off in the medium to long term. It is high time to stop underestimating Brussels as a place for advanced diplomacy.