In Europe, long a vital source of support for Israel, the political center of gravity is moving away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Spain, Ireland and Norway on Wednesday recognized Palestinian statehood, despite vehement Israeli and American opposition. And most European governments offered unequivocal support to the International Criminal Court this week, after it requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, along with leaders of Hamas.
Israel still has staunch allies within the European Union, especially Hungary and the Czech Republic, and key players like Germany, despite growing discomfort with Israel’s conduct, have not shown any inclination to alter their stance. The growing fissures within Europe mean that the consensus-driven European Union will not change its positions any time soon.
But European countries face rising international and domestic pressure to take a firmer stand against Israel’s handling of the Palestinian territories, and particularly the devastating war in Gaza.
And once again, we see the real mechanism by which terrorism “wins”. Israel has hurt itself in its confusion.
This conflict has been manufactured over a period of decades. Everyone but Palestine gets something out of it.
You could also argue that Israel itself is an example of terrorisms success, as Jewish militias terrorised and ethnically cleansed the land of most Arabs/Palestianians, starting at the creation of Israel.
During the Nakba in 1948, approximately half of Palestine’s predominantly Arab population, or around 750,000 people, were expelled from their homes or made to flee, at first by Zionist paramilitaries through various violent means, and after the establishment of the State of Israel, by the Israel Defense Forces. This occurred in the wake of dozens of massacres targeting Palestinian Arabs and the depopulation of 500 Arab-majority towns and villages, with many of these being either completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews and given new Hebrew names. By the end of the war, 78% of the total land area of the former Mandatory Palestine was controlled by Israel and at least 15,000 Palestinian Arabs had been killed.
This might be true for Netanjahu and some right-wing groups, but not for the population or country in general. There are lots of people in Israel, including lots of Jews, who oppose any violence against other groups, especially inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank.
The majority of Israelis are in support of both the settlements and ethnic cleansing of the west bank as well as currently in favor of the genocide in Gaza. Unfortunately the opposition to violence and the worst crimes against humanity are a small minority inside Israel. Which goes to show what happens when a ethnofascist state gets impunity and support for decades.
Turning Israel into a democracy in the sense of the mainstream and majority of the people recognizing and supporting basic human and civil rights will take generations of reeducation or a total defeat. However the total defeat route didnt work in Germany either as fascism and authoritarianism are alive and well in Germany, with many people claiming to be “center” or even “progressive” to be fiercely authoritarian and deeply racist.
It’s kind of funny given the fact that Israel was founded through terrorism and terrorist militias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehi_(militant_group). You’d think they would’ve mastered terrorism already.
I dunno that Bibi was confused. He had an opportunity, he needed something to change politics, and now we’re here. He’s not omnipotent within Israel, but clearly enough Israelis are okay with this.
Primarily, the behavior of Israel is pushing away the interest in supporting Israel.
