Posted on 11/29/2001 3:56:50 PM PST by dennisw
Commentary November 29, 2001
Why Europe Hates Israel
By Bret Stephens, an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Europe.
BRUSSELS -- Yesterday, a Belgian court heard arguments from
lawyers representing 23 Palestinians, survivors of the 1982 Sabra and
Chatilla massacres near Beirut, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon should be prosecuted in Belgium for crimes against humanity.
Though Mr. Sharon almost certainly will never sit in a Belgian jail,
the trial could hardly be freighted with more significance.
More than a half-century after the Holocaust, a Europe awakened to
the importance of human rights is looking to sanction the leader of
the world's only Jewish state for a crime that was actually committed
by a Christian Lebanese militiaman, later employed by the Syrian
regime of Hafez Assad. And yet blame for the massacres seems to be
apportioned to Mr. Sharon alone. Why?
Sensational Indictment
The short answer is the Belgian legal system, whose well-meaning
laws lend themselves to this sort of opportunistic and sensational
indictment. A slightly longer answer is that many Europeans are
sincerely convinced that Mr. Sharon really is a war criminal, as a
BBC documentary attempted to show last summer.
But the real answer is that
European governments today are,
by and large, tacit enemies of the
state of Israel, much as they
might protest that they merely
take a more "evenhanded"
approach to the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Consider a few recent examples.
In April, France voted to censure
Israel at the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva -- while
abstaining from a vote of censure against China. During his
diplomatic foray to Tehran in September, British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw offered that "one of the factors which helps breed
terrorism is the anger which many people in this region feel at events
over the years in Palestine." The European Union has so far refused
to follow America's lead by freezing the assets of terrorist groups such
as Hezbollah and Hamas, with the European Commission's external
relations spokesman, Gunnar Wiegand, arguing that "Hezbollah could
play a major role in regional stability."
That Europe today should be hostile to Israel may seem a bit of a
mystery, not least given the usual sympathy of aims between
democratic states. The explanation comes in several parts. First, as
historian Howard Sacher points out, Europe's left sees in Israel's
political evolution a betrayal of its utopian ideals. It's easy to forget
that in the years following the establishment of Israel, many
Europeans looked to it as a model socialist country. They admired its
largely state-run economy and especially its collectivist kibbutzim.
Hundreds of young European leftists, most of them non-Jews, flocked
to these farms in the 1960s, looking for the kind of workers' paradise
they could not find on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
This fondness, however, evaporated after the 1967 war, when Israel
went from being the Middle East's underdog to its Goliath, holding a
colonial-like mandate over the lands that came into its possession.
Partly under the sway of Soviet propaganda, partly in keeping with
the fashion of radical chic, European leftists abruptly transferred their
allegiances to the Palestinians and the PLO, which in the 1970s drew
the likes of current German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to their
meetings. Meanwhile, successive Israeli governments veered to the
right. "The era when Yitzhak Rabin or Golda Meir could address their
European counterparts as 'comrades' at gatherings of the Socialist
International had passed," says Mr. Sacher.
There was also a shift of attitudes on the European right. With the
exception of Britain, whose notoriously Arabist Foreign Office has
dominated its Mideast policy under both Conservative and Labour
governments, much of the Continental right had at one time looked
on admiringly at "plucky little Israel." Thus, beginning in 1952, the
conservative German government of Konrad Adenauer provided Israel
with critical financial support in the form of Holocaust reparations,
while Charles de Gaulle's France helped to build its nuclear reactor at
Dimona.
But it was also de Gaulle who, in 1967, slapped an arms embargo on
Israel for firing the first shot in the Six Day War. Thereafter, the
hostility increased, partly because France fancied itself a champion of
its former Arab colonies, partly out of simple anti-Americanism. But
the chief reason, of course, was Europe's dependence on Arab oil. As
French President Georges Pompidou put it to Henry Kissinger during
the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, "You only rely on the Arabs for about a
tenth of your consumption. We are entirely dependent on them."
Since then, Europe's reliance on Mideastern oil has abated, but the
habit of reflexively seeking to appease the Arabs at Israel's expense
has not. In 1974, French Foreign Minister Michel Jobert toured the
Middle East, seeking to earn price concessions on oil for France by
mouthing a hard anti-Israel line. In 1980, the European Community
formally recognized the PLO despite the fact that Yasser Arafat had
neither made peace with Israel nor dropped his overt sponsorship of
terrorism. Currently, the EU supplies the Palestinian Authority with
the bulk of its foreign aid, even as much of that money goes
indirectly to funding textbooks describing Jews as monkeys and
vermin.
Given all this, many Jews have been led to conclude that what's at
work here is a thinly veiled form of anti-Semitism. But while there
might be some truth to this, it's easily exaggerated. Mr. Straw, of
German-Jewish descent, is clearly no anti-Semite, and the one bright
spot of Jacques Chirac's presidency has been his efforts to
acknowledge the sins of France's suppressed Vichy past.
Underlying Guilt
Underlying European policy is an uneasy sense of guilt. In the
immediate postwar period, Europe's guilty conscience worked in
Israel's favor. But in the postcolonial spirit of the '60s, the balance of
guilt switched to the Arab side: It was they who were being oppressed;
and it was Europe that, with its previous support for Israel, had
helped inflict the oppression. So Europe pressures Israel to withdraw
from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, heedless of the dire security
consequences that such withdrawal would entail. That Israel has so far
refused to accede to this pressure stands as an infuriating rebuke to
modern Europe's fundamental conception of itself as the virtuous
defeated, free to pass judgment while absolved of the moral
responsibilities of wielding actual power.
Whatever the case, a foreign policy based on a combination of
left-wing disillusionment, French opportunism and all-around
cravenness cannot yield good results. With the U.S. State Department
increasingly leaning toward the European line on Israel, it's well that
the basis of that policy be properly understood.
Cheers Tony
Are you adding Pat Buchanan to the long list of people you hate? I voted for Bush.
YOU have absolutely no idea about what YOU'RE raving about. So why don't you shut up?
Patria One,
WHY DO YOU HATE THE JEWS AND HATE ISRAEL?
WHY?
And Patria not only worked, by her own admission, in Saudi for years, but still sounds like one. Hmmmmm.
I think political Zionism is a disaster that has recreated for the Palestinians what the Jews experienced in Europe.
I am appalled at their ingratitude towards the Palestinian people who allowed such a huge influx of refugees that no one else would acccept. I am sickened by the constant slaughter on both sides for the past 60 years.
The whole dynamic is shameful and disgusting to me. The intractible belligerence, the constant hateful rhetoric, the constant threat to tear down Al Haram Al Sharif, the covert meddling of the Mossad, the expansion of settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, the general aparthied, the constant whining about victimhood and scheming to get more money out of the US taxpayer, the imperialistic control of resources in my view is stupid and destructive... These behaviors would shame any group of people.
This same scenario between ANY two peoples of any religion would result in exactly what you have in Palestine in 2001.
Zionism has made a mess because there is no right way to do a wrong thing.
Which you and your Saudi Wannabes have consistently proven.
Money? Stakes? Did I make a bet, Patria? I've heard that the Saudis have a predilection for Vegas :). Myself, I never bet.
I can see one use for stakes in connection with the Saudis. It has nothing to do with bets ;).
Honestly, do you really believe what you just wrote? The Palestinians didn't 'allow' anything. The Brits were in control, and the Palestinians tried to butcher the Jews returning (and sometimes succeeded--see Hebron, 1930, for an example). The de facto leader of the Palestinians was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Arafat's uncle, if I'm not mistaken), who was literally a friend of Hitler and advocate of slaughtering Jews. He also is largely responsible for the Palestinian refugee situation in the first place--the Grand Mufti asked the Palestinians to leave their homes, to help the Arab armies to crush Israel.
Every single thing you posted AFTER that statement is a lie, which makes THAT statement a lie. Patria, how do you sleep at night? With a scimitar under your pillow?
I think political Zionism is a disaster that has recreated for the Palestinians what the Jews experienced in Europe.
There ARE NO PALESTINIANS. Hitler repeated HIS big lie and you are rapidly catching up.
I am appalled at their ingratitude towards the Palestinian people who allowed such a huge influx of refugees that no one else would acccept.
Ingratitude? For importing an ARMY which has ravaged the entire Near East? For importing madmen and murderers that are paid to stay OUT of other Arab countries?
INGRATITUDE???
You are a defender of murderers who killed US and who would kill every single human being who does not agree with them...and I don't hate you. I despise you.
I am sickened by the constant slaughter on both sides for the past 60 years.
For which your Saudi piglets have forked over megabucks because all your kings' horses and all your kings' men, couldn't whip Israel time and again.
The whole dynamic is shameful and disgusting to me. The intractible belligerence,
Of an illegitimate gang of thugs claiming peoplehood...
the constant hateful rhetoric,
shouted from every loudspeaker from every mosque, written in every Arab newspaper, on every Arabic-owned television station
the constant threat to tear down Al Haram Al Sharif,
which is as illegitimate as the people who claim it since the Mad Prophet only supposedly visited there in a dream. Sounds like an older incarnation of Mullah Omar.
I don't suppose it matters that they are using it to destroy Hebrew antiquities and destabilizing not only the Western Wall but their own structure as well and blaming it on the Israelis.
the covert meddling of the Mossad,
To rid the world of sadistic, brutal suicide bombers and planners that YOU defend...
the expansion of settlements on the West Bank and Gaza,
which is PART of Israel thanks to your Arab countries who couldn't run a war when they had to FACE Israel. So now they do what Islam has always done best. They terrorize.
the general aparthied,
NOT for ISRAELI Arabs. You lie again. Separating from terrorists is not apartheid. It is a shield against murder and mayhem. Unfortunately, BECAUSE there is no *general* apartheid, there are Arabs in the Knesset who carry information to the very groups who rave on and on about overflowing the desert with a lake of Israeli blood.
the constant whining about victimhood and scheming to get more money out of the US taxpayer,
You will have to take that up with CAIR and the CINC. I am getting tired of it my own self.
the imperialistic control of resources
which just happen to belong to their owners. Israel. The Jihadists had it ALL. The blew it, lost it, and that is something that is THEIR fault, not Israel's. Unless you simply expected Israel to allow its own destruction...
in my view is stupid and destructive... These behaviors would shame any group of people.
Then why aren't you ashamed? That is your only claim, you know...and it IS stupid. The truth WILL be, whether your view is bass ackwards or not.
This same scenario between ANY two peoples of any religion would result in exactly what you have in Palestine in 2001.
Pardon me? Who is it that won't allow Christians into Bethlehem at Christmas? Who is it that insists on building a mosque which overshadows the Church of the Ascension? It ain't the Jews. Hint....Christians were not allowed into the Old City under Islam either. Get your lies straight.
Zionism has made a mess because there is no right way to do a wrong thing.
See Post 248.
Sooooo you are anti-Israel AND anti-America too. Interesting.
First you have to buy into the propaganda that "Europe Hates Israel".
Does this serve some particular purpose in the Zionist cause?
Zionism is the modern expression of the ancient Jewish heritage.
Zionism is the national liberation movement of a people exiled from its historic homeland and dispersed among the nations of the world.
Zionism is the redemption of an ancient nation from a tragic lot and the redemption of a land neglected for centuries.
Zionism is the revival of an ancient language and culture, in which the vision of universal peace has been a central theme.
Zionism is the embodiment of a unique pioneering spirit, of the dignity of labour, and of enduring human values.
Zionism is creating a society, however imperfect it may still be, which tries to implement the highest ideals of democracy--political social and cultural--for all the inhabitants of Israel, irrespective of religious belief, race or sex.
Zionism is, in sum, the constant and unrelenting effort to realize the national and universal vision of the prophets of Israel.
AMEN!
But then how would you earn your thirty pieces of silver?
I was there in 1983. I used to get a kick out of all those peace mongering ladies outside the gate. The ones who were killing off the rabbit population around Greenham Common. If you were in security, maybe you heard about that guy who got through and ran his car across the runway, toward a C-5 sitting on the ramp, in Nov of 83? I was in the Control Tower when it happened. That C-5 had just landed, and was delivering the first ground launched cruise missile parts to Greenham Common. This was just a few weeks after the Marine barracks was bombed in Beirut, so we thought his car was full of explosives. It was not, however, but if I remember right, it was a young US Air Force security policeman, who rammed the guy, and stopped him.
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