British writer Tony Barber said - in an article in the British newspaper the Financial Times - that the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for 5 months has continued to confuse European diplomacy, destabilize public opinion, and inflame local politics in every country.

He pointed out that the bitter truth is that the European Union does not have much to do to determine the outcome of the conflict, which the longer Europe suffers from its repercussions.

He stated that the political effects resulting from the war in Gaza extend beyond Europe, specifically to other democratic countries, especially the United States.

Warning

The writer added that President Joe Biden's comfortable victory in the Democratic Party primary elections in Michigan last month was accompanied by a warning that many Arab Americans and other voters had abandoned his support because of his full support for Israel.

The repercussions of this war are no less dangerous in Europe, as they reflect a new political division that extends across at least three groups in the European Union countries, and reflects a widening gap between the positions of governments and public opinion.

According to the article, the damage to European diplomacy in the Middle East and beyond takes multiple forms. Firstly, the war in Gaza dealt a blow to the attempts of European governments to attract the rest of the world to support Ukraine in its war of “self-defense” against Russia.

The writer believes that Europe's failure to take concrete steps to curb Israeli military operations in Gaza confirmed the accusation that the West is applying double standards, and is treating its efforts to support Ukraine as a struggle for the future of the international order based on rules and laws, while refraining from holding Israel accountable.

A question mark

Secondly, the war raises a question mark regarding the credibility of Europe's "soft power", which is often seen as an important tool for a continent that somewhat lacks military weight.

In this context, the writer cited an article by James Lynch of Amnesty International, written for the European Council on Foreign Relations, in which he asserted that Europe's soft power stems from its economic prosperity and the social values associated with it.

The third type of damage to European diplomacy - in Barber's opinion - is the division of European governments among themselves, and this was evident in their votes on two UN General Assembly resolutions issued last October.

The first vote called for a truce - not a ceasefire - in Gaza, as 8 European Union countries supported it, 4 opposed it, and 15 others abstained from voting.

In the second vote, which called for an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons, 17 countries supported the resolution, two objected, and 8 abstained from voting.

Deep divisions

In answering the reasons why these European divisions are so deep, the writer believes that part of them is rooted in the history of each European Union member state from the period between 1918-1939 until the latter half of the twentieth century.

The article cited, as an example, the conflicting positions of two European countries towards this conflict: Spain and the Czech Republic. The latter is an ardent supporter of Israel in the European Union, while the Spaniards are staunch supporters of the Palestinians.

In a poll conducted by YouGov in November, between 24 and 31% of respondents in 7 European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Britain) expressed sympathy for both sides of the Middle East conflict, and 27% said To 37% they do not know.

Another indicator of this poll is that it revealed certain trends in public opinion in Western Europe. It became clear that young voters (up to the age of 29 years) are more sympathetic to the Palestinians, unlike older voters (especially those over the age of 45 years) who tend to support Israel.

Source: Financial Times