Islam Times - Gaza War Divides Europe

Islam Times - Despite the willingness by some European countries to show resolute support to the Israeli regime in Gaza, the European Union has not yet adopted a unified view on the crisis. This is obviously observable in the conflict of views of some countries like Germany that insist on support to the Israelis with others like Spain and Norway that have directed strong criticism to the Israeli occupation and its Netanyahu-led government.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday presented a proposal to his government calling for preparation for recognition of an independent Palestinian state, a move the parliament said will positively influence the peace in the region. Earlier, such countries as Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, and Romania had recognized Palestine.

Gaps among Western countries

For Europeans, the war between the Israeli regime and Hamas is like a minefield, creating a wide gap between those in power and the voters.

The reason for change of positions of European countries in support of Palestine can be searched in the political and social developments of these countries— developments in which the people play a central role and their governments have been criticized for their silence in the face of the heinous crimes committed by the Israelis in Gaza.

Over the past two months of the Gaza war that the Israeli military bombarded this besieged enclave from land, air and sea and killed more than 20,000 innocent people, especially children, destroyed its health infrastructure and imposed a full-scale siege against civilians, the Western public opinion has grown angry, and every day large-scale protests are held in European and American cities against the crimes of the Israeli occupation. This issue has led to a deeper gap between people and their governments.

These protests have left substantial political impacts, making the leaders, to some extent, shift their time towards Gaza war. This reflected itself in the sacking under public pressure of the British interior minister who openly backed the Israeli crimes.

The wave that has started in the West in support of Palestine will make it difficult for European governments to continue their pro-Israeli policies. Because European public opinion dislikes governments that blindly follow the policies of the US and other powers such as France and Germany, and this is worrying for the ruling parties who in the future parliamentary elections need votes of the people to continue to rule. Due to the gaps that have arisen, experts doubt that the current leaders and parties will rule again.

Siding with the US, the British, German, and French governments defend any Israeli crimes as legitimate self-defense to show their commitment to a illegitimate child these imperialist power gave birth to nearly 8 decades ago. Germany that according to claims of the Zionists themselves conducted an anti-Jewish genocide during WWII is now supporting the genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza to win the Israeli favor and whitewash its hands from the so-called Holocaust.

The Europeans earlier played an active role in regional and international developments and tried to ease the tensions in all parts of the world through mediation, but with the changes that have occurred on the world stage they have now practically become second-rate actors and left the game to such emerging powers as China. Actually, now Europe is nothing but an acolyte to the US and its dictates.

When Russia waged a war on Ukraine, they labeled the war as trans-European to win the support of non-European states. They called on the world to stand by Ukraine in support of rule of law. They described Russia’s attacks as illegal, which the world should stand against, but now they are defending the criminal instead of the victim in the Gaza war and the Palestinian genocide. Therefore, these countries that claim to defend democracy in the world have jeopardized their position internationally by unwaveringly supporting the Gaza genocide. The public opinion no longer listens to the deceptive pro-human rights slogans of the West as it sees an apparent contradiction between words and actions.

The risk for the West is that this Western behavior indicates the Chinese and Russian argument that suggests that the world order is working only for a small group of countries excluding the southern countries and only covering the US and its allies who make decisions for the world. But, now the world is defying the West and even the weak countries no longer follow the West’s dictates.

Gaza war and further disunity in NATO

Although NATO has been the largest military alliance in the world since its foundation in 1949, and new countries have joined it to strengthen their power and act against common enemies, in recent years there have been signs of a split in this military bloc.

Although in the case of the Ukraine crisis and dealing with Russian threats NATO members have had a united position to a large extent and provided extensive military and financial support to Kiev, some countries such as Hungary and Turkey were strongly opposed to NATO’s punitive measures against Russia, showing that NATO is not as united as the past.

Today and in the Gaza war, this division shows itself, and even though the US is trying to force all its allies to support the Israeli regime, the position of the governments of Spain and Norway in defense of the Palestinian nation and unilateral action for the recognition of the Palestinian state is a defiance of the NATO policy and will divide the bloc deeper.

The Western disunity will very likely leave its impacts on Ukraine, too, and lead to scale-down in support to Kiev. Over the past two months, Ukraine officials have criticized the US and Europe for aid downturn.

Given the popular solidarity with Palestine in the West, recognition of a Palestinian state in the future is not unlikely, and the Spanish and Norwegian initiatives can clear the path to others to follow suit.