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Though Israel has increased its cooperative security work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), there was strong doubt about Israel's chances of joining NATO at an event commemorating the 10-year anniversary of NATO's historic post-communist expansion March 5.

The event, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association and held at the Consulate General of Hungary in New York, took place the same day as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's meeting with top NATO leaders in Brussels.

Professor Charles Gati of Johns Hopkins University, who fled his native Hungary in 1956, told The Jewish State that because Israel is so isolated, it would be lucky to get the votes of only the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany if it applied for NATO membership.

"I think only they would vote for anything like it," Gati said.

Gati attributed his pessimism to the anti-Israel attitudes that permeate the European media and public opinion. After the recent war in Gaza, he said, he received reports of vicious anti-Israel demonstrations in unlikely places, such as Sweden.

"I'm disgusted, just disgusted," he said about the anti-Israel behavior now so prevalent. "So I would say the chances are nil."

In December, Israel and NATO officially boosted cooperation on fighting global terrorism and increased their military ties as well. Gati said such Israeli collaboration with NATO will likely continue, "but not as members or even future members."

In August 2008, during The Jewish State's coverage of the Russia-Georgia war, Karla Beth Jones, the Europe director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) told The Jewish State that NATO was the "optimal model" and the "most functional of all the multilateral organizations". She said she hoped Israel could one day join.

At the NATO roundtable, Martin Palous, permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, was supportive of the idea of Israel joining NATO.

"I think it would be good to have Israel in NATO," Palous told The Jewish State.

Though he wouldn't go so far as to say that other countries would back Israel's inclusion as well, he said: "we (the Czech Republic) will be voting for it. It's not a bad idea."

The night's discussion, "A Decade After the First Round of NATO Enlargement: The Joys, the Pains, the Future," included Gati, Palous, and Andrzej Topic, permanent representative of Poland to the United Nations.

The three former Soviet nations -- Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary -- joined NATO on March 16, 1999. Gati said that there was significant opposition to NATO enlargement back then, though the prudence of the idea seems to have approached conventional wisdom over the past decade.

"Looking back, it may seem like an obvious move -- history decreed that it must be so," Gati said. But that was not true."

Gati said that while it wasn't always easy, there have been no border incidents between NATO countries and no NATO wars.

"An alliance is a lot like marriage -- you have to work on it," Gati said, adding that the alliance has brought "harmony" to the once bitterly divided Central Europe.

One challenge going forward, Gati said, is that the U.S. wants more out of NATO militarily, while NATO wants more out of the U.S. diplomatically. He said under President Barack Obama, he expects that gap to close.

"The U.S. will demand less, expect less, and I certainly hope the Europeans will deliver more," he said.

Another NATO issue has been whether to bring Ukraine and Georgia into the fold, especially after this past summer's Russia-Georgia war. On Ukraine, Gati said, "My heart is broken, but my head is telling me it's time to wait."

But, he added, "the time will come."

Topic reiterated that, indeed, NATO enlargement was far from inevitable. He said NATO serves as a bridge between the former communist countries and the West.

The purpose of NATO, Topic said, was not to rearrange global alliances, but rather to "overcome the division of Europe." Post-war Europe, he said, badly needed allies.

"Real Europe, for many of them, ended in Germany," Topic said, adding that Central and Eastern Europe "were the great losers" in post-war reorganization.

He said NATO enlargement in 1999 was again part of a necessary adjustment, this time to the security challenges after the Cold War. Topic added that because NATO countries must be democratic and have a strong record on human rights, NATO enlargement "has become a fundamental instrument" in building democracy. "And it must be kept and reinforced."

Topic said that it would be useful to ask ourselves: "What would have happened if Central European countries had remained outside the alliance?" Integration would've been more difficult, he said, and freedom and democracy might have taken much longer, if ever. "It was, I believe, really a very good decision."

Palous echoed that sentiment, and added some praise for American-led Western values.

"It was strong motivation for all these countries to return and comply with all these regulations," Palous said. "It was the American concept of transformation... I see here as very significant."

Palous said that, as proof of efficiency and value of NATO, support for the organization is bipartisan in the U.S. as well. If there were ever a time, he said, when former President Bill Clinton (a Democrat) and his successor George W. Bush (a Republican) "took compatible steps, it was in NATO enlargement."

Palous reminded the audience that Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary were immediately challenged upon entering NATO; the bombing of Yugoslavia over its Kosovar conflict began about a week after NATO enlargement.

Still, he said, NATO's expansion marked a positive moment in the history of each country.

"I think for all countries -- Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary -- this has been a tremendous school, a tremendous challenge, and obviously we are tremendously grateful for the opportunity," Palous said.