While marking Israel’s 75th anniversary, Ursula von der Leyen offered solidarity. That friendship reached beyond diplomacy. Israel played international football in Europe, competed in Eurovision and shared intelligence with European governments.
Its weapons industry was woven into European production lines. Those ties still exist, but have since become battlegrounds after Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza, which has killed at least 74,000 Palestinians. European countries have withdrawn from Eurovision over Israel’s participation.
European footballers have refused to play the Israeli team. Some declarations of friendship have been recast as condemnation. Ireland and Spain have long led criticism of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
At the recent UN General Assembly, Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Israel’s actions in Gaza “will shame the world”, while Spain’s Pedro Sanchez spoke of “condemning unequivocally the genocide that Netanyahu continues to perpetrate in Gaza”. Recently, in a sign of how much has changed in three years, Britain, whose Balfour Declaration helped lay the foundations for Israel’s creation, imposed a ban on goods from illegal settlements, while its foreign secretary accused Israeli settlers of ethnic cleansing. On Saturday, a group of settlers attacked European diplomats and officials from Belgium, France and Poland who were visiting Palestinian olive harvesters near the village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank.
The assault, which came a day after settlers attacked a United States journalist north of Ramallah, drew widespread international condemnation. Scarred relations between Europe and Israel may never fully repair, experts said as Israel heads to an election on October 27 that is too close to call. Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East analyst at Chatham House, said if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns with the far right, “certain things will become irreversible.
The damage caused by this government is deep”. Nicola Perugini, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Edinburgh, warned that the re-election of the leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), would see Gaza’s population continue to struggle under “unliveable” conditions. A Netanyahu coalition with more liberal parties might slow settlement expansion.
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