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A dubious Israeli spring in Europe
By Gideon Levy
Tags: Israel, Salam Fayyad, Europe 

How pleasant it is to be an official representative of Israel in Europe right now. It hasn't been so pleasant for a long time. And not just because of the spectacular spring in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, the crowded pubs in Athens or the young people sunbathing nude in Stockholm. This is about the fresh sympathy for Israel blowing in from almost every capital. French newspapers went all out for our 60th anniversary, Israeli women soldiers starred on the covers of magazines, and even the Swedish papers lost a little of their interest in the Palestinians' suffering, which had for years won such deep sympathy.

Last week, when the Olof Palme International Center in Stockholm held a symposium on peace in the Middle East, a scandal broke out because the organizers dared invite a professor of Islamic studies, Azam Tamimi, a Hamas sympathizer from London. Even in Sweden. This sympathy for Israel, along with seething antipathy for Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, includes, of course, active European participation in the boycott of Gaza and Hamas, which may reach new heights this week. The Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union is slated tomorrow to discuss upgrading Israel's standing in the EU, and later in the week ministers of the EU member states will also do so. It only takes opposition by one country to prevent the upgrade of ties, which would have significant economic ramifications for Israel.

But there is a good chance that exactly as Europe decided unanimously to boycott Gaza, it will say yes to an upgrade of Israel's ties with the EU. For official Israel, this is excellent news. Perhaps for the first time, a very strange set of circumstances prevails: Europe, which holds high the standard of human rights and liberty, is boycotting the occupied entity. As if that were not enough, it is even upgrading its ties with the occupier. While Europe is perceived by most Israelis as hostile to Israel, not to say anti-Semitic, its governments are uniting to support Israel almost no matter what it does.
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Europe's blind obedience to the United States, which led it into Afghanistan and Iraq, combined with guilt over the Holocaust, is manifest in its relationship toward us. Xenophobia, and particularly hatred of Muslims, Hamas' rise in Gaza and that organization's perception in Europe as part of a dangerous Islamic conspiracy whose other members are Al-Qaida and Hezbollah, are now also finding expression in the relationship to Israel.

It is true that Israel's representatives continue to complain bitterly about hostility. Israel's envoy to London last week lamented that Britain had become a hotbed of radical anti-Israel views; it always pays to complain. It is also true that public opinion in Europe is still more sympathetic to the Palestinians. But the European governments are turning their backs on this sentiment and are conducting a quite amazingly sympathetic policy toward Israel. There is practically no country that has not sent an official to Israel recently; they are all rushing to Sderot to take their picture with a Qassam, and staying away from Gaza in droves, despite the much greater suffering there.

This false magic charm should not be allowed to trick us. This is not good news for those who wish for an end to the Israeli occupation and still believe that Europe can and should play a useful role in achieving peace in the region. Europe, which is now incomprehensibly and blindly following the U.S., is not just a Europe ignoring the values it proclaims; it is also a Europe that will lose any possibility to influence the region. That is not good for the Middle East and it is bad for Europe, too, in whose backyard our conflict begins.

We already have a one-sided mediator of the type that gives Israel free rein to follow every whim of its occupation: America. We have no need for another. Europe's special status - as Israel's major economic market that maintains an extensive network of relations with the Arab world as well - is eroding. Instead we are getting a West that no longer makes demands on Israel, comes to terms with the criminal occupation and is heavy-handed only when it comes to the Palestinians. True, Europe is also the biggest donor to the Palestinian Authority, but in so doing it subsidizes the occupation, nothing more.

When PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the darling of Israel and the U.S., dared recently to work against the upgrade, Israel quickly hit the PA in its pocketbook and confiscated the tax money belonging to it; a scandal in itself. Thus will be done to the man who tries to demand that Europe maintain some measure of balance.

Europe must come to its senses this week. It must condition the upgrade of relations with Israel on a series of practical steps Israel must take, in the spirit of its declared values. Want an upgrade? Please conduct yourselves according to international law, please respect the most basic human rights, please lift the siege on Gaza. That is how the EU behaves toward the rest of the countries knocking at its door. An unconditional upgrade will be a prize for settlements, a medal for siege, closures and starvation. Is that the way Europe wants to see itself? Lavishing gifts on the occupier, boycotting the occupied, and becoming an American puppet?
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  1.   Madness isn`t it? 10:00  |  Marilyn 15/06/08
  2.   Finally woken up 10:23  |  Ofer from Ofer 15/06/08
  3.   Maybe when Palestinians face truth they will finally compromise 10:31  |  McQueen 15/06/08
  4.   Thanks for reporting the good news, Mr Levy 10:50  |  Gina 15/06/08
  5.   THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THE WEST 11:00  |  indrajaya 15/06/08
  6.   anti-Muslim feelings in Europe 11:01  |  Roberto 15/06/08
  7.   Marilyn, you don`t know a fig about Europe 11:09  |  Gisela 15/06/08
  8.   Israels welcome in the EU is pending developments 11:16  |  Natallie Durson 15/06/08
  9.   Gideon`s slight flaw in logic 11:23  |  Clickfool 15/06/08
  10.   Biased,as always 11:24  |  Erben 15/06/08
  11.   Too bad people believe the hasbara poored over them 11:27  |  John 15/06/08
  12.   Marilyn @#1 11:48  |  Akiva P 15/06/08
  13.   The Zionisation of the EU 11:54  |  Chanalau, Tova 15/06/08
  14.   Israel needs Conditional Support 12:07  |  Tzfonit 15/06/08
  15.   Levy wants foreigners to impose his views 12:07  |  Publius 15/06/08
  16.   Whether Gideod Levy likes it or not, Israel is indeed at the fore 12:10  |  Roger 15/06/08
  17.   Oh my! 12:14  |  Axel 15/06/08
  18.   Good News From Gidon Levy 12:15  |  Ben Israel 15/06/08
  19.   Reincarnation of William Joyce 12:20  |  Ilan 15/06/08
  20.   A shrewd analysis 12:23  |  David 15/06/08
  21.   Who would be surprised. The leadership of most European 12:26  |  Andreas 15/06/08
  22.   Why Israel is blockading Gaza, etc. 12:52  |  ARA 15/06/08
  23.   # 10 don`t you believe it for a second, roger 12:53  |  eric 15/06/08
  24.   STATEMENTS like "50 million Moslems will rule Europe" 13:00  |  PETER SM 15/06/08
  25.   Many thanks for the good news, Mr. Levy 13:03  |  KUTW 15/06/08
  26.   #10: Yes. And Nazi Germany was at the forefront against 13:05  |  Andreas 15/06/08
  27.   "It always pays to complain" 13:06  |  KUTW 15/06/08
  28.   European public opinion 13:08  |  KUTW 15/06/08
  29.   ANDREAS /Chanalau.Tube bombing,riots,throat cutting,nun killing 13:10  |  PETER SM 15/06/08
  30.   European politicians staying away from Gaza 13:12  |  KUTW 15/06/08
  31.   Confiscating the tax money is ok 13:17  |  KUTW 15/06/08
  32.   Durson`s weird analysis 8 13:51  |  ChanahS 15/06/08
  33.   Gideon Levy: Europe`s occupation by Muslims makes it back Israel 13:52  |  Genuine Tosefta 15/06/08
  34.   eric 23 don`t kid yourself 13:57  |  ChanahS 15/06/08
  35.   Wow. This is great news 14:03  |  Estevao 15/06/08
  36.   Arabs(+ other Muslims) will have to destroy Israel on their own 14:10  |  Sam 15/06/08
  37.   Gideon Levy`s warped morality 14:13  |  Sarah Stevens 15/06/08
  38.   DURSON If IRAN develops nukes hold onto your burqa real tight. 14:20  |  PETER SM 15/06/08
  39.   Spot on mr Levy. 14:36  |  Helen 15/06/08
  40.   out to lunch 14:42  |  David 15/06/08
  41.   Muslims have asked for it - now they will get it 14:44  |  Johnny 15/06/08
  42.   Native Europeans 14:45  |  Warren J. 15/06/08
  43.   One of the reasons the Irish gave the thumbs down 14:51  |  Labhras 15/06/08
  44.   Gideon is funny. 14:55  |  Aish 15/06/08
  45.   What kind of NONSENSE is that? 15:00  |  Buzaglow 15/06/08
  46.   Silly Europeans 15:05  |  Tosefta 15/06/08
  47.   Jews are fooling themselves on this 15:20  |  Labhras 15/06/08
  48.   NO WONDER 15:26  |  Iskander 15/06/08
  49.   Who is the Abominable Slowman? 15:26  |  Gideon Levy 15/06/08
  50.   Islamic spring consequences in Indonesia vs. Israeli spring 15:26  |  Genuine Tosefta 15/06/08
  51.   Labarse 42 - Where`s the connection? 15:28  |  ChanahS 15/06/08
  52.   Europeans and Islam 15:31  |  Yussel 15/06/08
  53.   Reading between the lines.. 15:38  |  Stephen. 15/06/08
  54.   HATRED?! EUROPE EMBRACED THEM, WELFARE, HOUSING, EDUCATION AT EXP 15:45  |  db 15/06/08
  55.   It is Hamas and Sderot and Ashkelon, mr. Levy 16:01  |  Mark B. 15/06/08
  56.   Well done Israel! Correct move 16:16  |  Brian 15/06/08
  57.   Disingenius PROPAGANDA 16:23  |  B 15/06/08
  58.   "The Occupied Entity" 16:23  |  Brian 15/06/08
  59.   Delusion of Peace 16:26  |  ankhfnkhonsu 15/06/08
  60.   # 5 Indy ...good morning!!! 16:33  |  Lynn 15/06/08
  61.   # 51 ChanahS....YEP, Irish cutting the throats 16:40  |  Lynn 15/06/08
  62.   WARREN J Moslems in Europe being persecuted? 16:41  |  PETER SM 15/06/08
  63.   This contradicts Swiss (Dino) s opinion 16:42  |  David Israel 15/06/08
  64.   # 43 Labrhas....Funny, had nothing to do 16:43  |  Lynn 15/06/08
  65.   # 60, LYNN 16:59  |  indrajaya 15/06/08
  66.   #51 Lynn You are right and wrong 17:04  |  Labhras 15/06/08
  67.   Islamic spring consequences in Indonesia vs. Israeli spring 17:10  |  Genuine Tosefta 15/06/08
  68.   #61 Lynn 17:10  |  Labhras 15/06/08
  69.   Indra Jay 17:19  |  Mukhtar Datuk Dingah 15/06/08
  70.   #52 Yussel, who invented fascism?