Most European Governments Want to Love Israel if the Settler Leaders Would Only Let Them
Political correctness obliges European governments to 'take measures' against Israel now, slapping sanctions on a handful of settler leaders like Daniella Weiss and Meir Deutsch, the director of settler NGO Regavim
Europe loves Israel and Israel loves Europe. This determination sounds ridiculous, but the picture is more complex than the prevalent claim that Israel is a pariah state.
A pariah state is not welcomed to the Eurovision Song Contest. Most European governments want to love Israel, and most Israelis love Europe.
European public opinion regarding Israel is also ambivalent: Some people want to continue liking Israel but cannot abide its horrific actions; the result is that the (justified) hatred of Israel is reaching unprecedented levels.
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Political correctness also obliges European governments to "take measures" against Israel now. What measures does Classic Europe take? Sanctions against a handful of settlers.
Last week, the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council agreed to impose sanctions on a few settlers and their organizations. Heaven help us: Even the former CEO of Hashomer Yosh was targeted. Daniella Weiss, head of the Nahala Settlement Movement, won't be able to visit the Champs Élysées; Meir Deutsch, director of Regavim, won't be able to attend Coldplay concerts; Nahala's assets will be frozen – and the skies will fall down on the settlement enterprise.
These "harsh" measures were not obtained easily: For more than a year the EU wasted its time, with its typical serious-mindedness, and failed to reach a consensus due to Hungary's veto. Viktor Orbán's defeat in the recent election erased the last excuse Europe had, allowing it to achieve cathartic self-fulfillment in the shape of some flimsy mini-sanctions.
One can only laugh, but there is nothing funny here. After two and a half years of a genocidal war in Gaza that has not yet ended and daily pogroms against helpless residents of the West Bank: sanctions made of plastic.
This is Europe's contribution to humanity and its values. This is its response to public opinion: sanctions on Regavim. As if we were talking about a few rogue settler organizations and not an entire state that stands behind them, actively and passively. As if we weren't talking about a government whose policies are being implemented by settlers and a military that obeys their orders.
With "sanctions" like these, it would have been better had Europe not done a thing. Remember, Europe, how you behaved immediately after the Russian invasion of Crimea. You didn't punish three officers but an entire superpower, and within weeks.
Look at how you've been treating Russia ever since, how you dealt with South Africa way back when: You did what is expected of someone who cherishes international law and moral values.
But Israel, oh, that is a special case. It is so "special" that the historical guilt feelings that Israel has been cynically milking for all they're worth are paralyzing the continent.
Germany should have led the punitive camp, guiding it like a pillar of fire. Yes, Germany, which perpetrated the most horrific crimes in history and knows better than any other country the early warning signs. Not just for the sake of the Palestinians, but for the sake of the descendants of its Jewish victims. But Germany is afraid of being accused of antisemitism.
Most of the European right likes Israel's cruel policy against Muslims, who "contaminate" their countries too, in their words. The moderate left, like the moderate left everywhere, stammers and is apprehensive. The storm of protests against Israel is broad and authentic, but governments still manage to quash them.
Just as Europe is worried about being labeled antisemitic, it is also afraid of the United States. Until the latter changes its approach to Israel – and change is at hand – Europe will not dare change. Only when the signal goes out from Washington will the bridle be loosened.
This will not necessarily be bad news for Israel. It's true that popular hatred toward Israel in Europe has reached insane, often disproportionate, levels, but Israel has done everything to bring this about.
Price tags that every Israeli will feel personally will finally be affixed to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and the pogroms in the West Bank. Only then, perhaps, will a revolution take place.