Who Cares: Why the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict Matters (More) to Some EU Member States

Abstract What drives the salience of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict amongst EU member states? This article employs domestic foreign policy theories to explain the factors underlying variation in salience, estimated analysing all country statements made at the United Nations General Assembly between 1993 and 2017. Our findings suggest that there is a U‐shaped relationship between government ideology and attention for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: governments at ideological extremes tend to devote more attention than centrist ones. Moreover, we find that member states with higher trade exposure to the region demonstrate greater attention to the conflict. Additionally, we find that member states with larger Muslim populations tend to attach more salience to the topic. Through the use of such a relevant and divisive case, our study contributes to the understanding of foreign policy co‐operation amongst EU member states and its impact on European integration.