When considering the plight of the Palestinians, who could possibly disagree with the following statement: “It is time to stop this hypocrisy and inject some balance and fairness to this discussion?” On the face of it, the first to protest would be Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu; except that, astonishingly, these are his very own words and he has just used them as part of Israel’s growing face off with the European Union.
Two weeks ago, the governments of France, Germany, Italy and the UK summoned their respective Israeli ambassadors and condemned bluntly the Zionists’ latest illegal land grab and plans to build 1,400 new settler homes. They said it not only flew in the face of international law, reinforced by UN resolutions, but was also creating an obstacle to the successful outcome of the peace talks with the Palestinians.
In a tit-for-tat stunt, Netanyahu in his turn called in the French, German, Italian and British ambassadors in Israel. Using the call to end hypocrisy, he accused the EU states of being pro-Palestinian, as if this were a criminal act, on a par say, with the Americans being “pro-Israeli.”
The flimflam and double standards of Netanyahu are clear for everyone to see and need little examination. However, what is interesting is why the Israeli leader should have chosen to take this uncompromising approach with the Europeans. Does it reflect a genuine change in the balance of attitudes in European chancellories? And why has Netanyahu chosen to risk the start of a very public diplomatic row?
Let’s look at Europe more closely. Second only to the US in economic size and power, the EU cannot and indeed does not seek to project the same might as Washington. In addition, the EU eye has long been turned inward. It is struggling to convince a population of 503 million in 28 member states of the merits of political, as well as economic, integration. The 18 countries in the eurozone block have survived one near-death experience for the single currency. The euro may still not be out of the woods in terms of challenges to its inherent stability and workability across such a diverse range of economies.
Thus when it comes to Palestine, EU leaders have been content to listen to the siren voices of their own country’s Zionist lobbies. They have let Washington take the lead on Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. In addition, in France and Germany and Holland, a rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric has brought knavish right-wing parties to the fore. Though these thugs are often hardly any less anti-semitic, it is the higher profile of Muslim communities in their midst that they target. The rising sympathy for the Palestinians and their plight is in fact coming from influential middle class Europeans, from whom the political leaderships are drawn.
It seems very much as if in recent years, the blinkers have been falling from their eyes. The first event to shake up their thinking was the Hamas election victory in January 2006. George W Bush had begun the destruction of Iraq to make it “safe for democracy.” But Hamas, the democratic choice of the Palestinians was not good enough, even though this organization branded as “terrorist” had chosen to work through the ballot box, as Bush had demanded.
In the last six years, the Europeans have watched Israel go through its well-practiced gyrations, of protesting its longing for peace, while doing everything to impede peace talks. The West Bank barrier, the continued construction of illegal settlements and the steady economic pauperization of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, have come to be seen for the cynical and aggressive moves that they are.
Europe’s unwillingness to rubber stamp the US lead on Israel is hardening. Thus Netanyahu has chosen to go head to head with the EU for a good reason. No longer prepared to allow Washington to keep its European allies in line, he is throwing down a gauntlet. This is likely to be a signal to Zionists throughout the continent to start working at their respective governments. There will be massive letter-writing campaigns. There will be renewed propaganda depicting Israel as a vulnerable bastion of law and democracy surrounded by an unprincipled and malevolent Arab world. And no doubt also, behind the scenes, there will be blackmail and arm-twisting of opinion formers whose sympathies now lie with the Palestinians. There may even be murders. Israel is squaring up to Europe, whose leaders will soon discover for themselves, just how ruthless and single-minded angry Zionists can be.
Israel turning on Europe?
