Europe is weakening and preaching to Israel: The continent that lost its direction

Europe is going off the rails. This is, at least, the conclusion of an article published in The New York Times, which points to a series of deficiencies and failures in the political, economic, technological, and other conduct of the continent's countries. Israel has an interest in the subject not only because Europe is its main trading partner, but because European institutions and some of the continent's countries allow themselves to treat Israel in a condescending and discriminatory manner.

Every event in the "territories," not to mention Gaza or Lebanon, triggers harsh reactions in the European Union, accompanied by criticism and warnings of boycotts or sanctions. Neither the brutal murder of masses of regime opponents in Iran, nor the genocide in Sudan, nor the expulsion of migrants in South Africa trigger such reactions, but IDF actions against terrorists in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip or, to distinguish, the rioting of a handful of extremists in the village of Qusra, do.

Apparently, we should be satisfied with the excessive attention we receive on a continent that owes us a great debt, accumulated over two thousand years of persecution, inquisitions, and pogroms, and to which we are also connected by the threads of history, for better or worse. But paradoxically, we are subject to a finger being pointed at us in advance on every issue, without an effort to verify the facts. The actions of the thugs in Qusra are indeed serious and deserve every condemnation, and this is how they are perceived by most Israelis themselves, including the government and the settlers. But in Europe, this immediately turns into a collective accusation, in the spirit of the tradition of blaming Jews for every offense, real or imagined.

While our relations with Europe are influenced by our love-hate relationship with it, one cannot ignore other phenomena that affect the continent's situation and its future, such as the demographic Islamization in some of its countries, especially in its western part. Commentators argue that Europe has lost the capacity to manage itself and that it is exposed to situations that are beyond its control. They cite as an example the war against Iran and its results, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the rise in fuel prices.

Those same commentators do not place emphasis on the question of why Europe, as part of the free Western world, does not see itself as a partner in the struggle against the adversarial axis of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, whose goal is to nullify the values of freedom and democracy of the West. Not to mention the fact that Iran is striving for the destruction of the State of Israel.

In this respect, in fact, there is nothing new. The Evian Conference, which convened on the eve of the Second World War in France, with the participation of representatives from Europe and the United States, avoided any step that might have prevented some of the events of the Holocaust, including opening the gates of Eretz Yisrael to Jewish refugees. Perhaps one must reach the conclusion that today's Europe, despite the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Cold War, is not so different from the Europe of yesterday, and not only regarding the Jewish issue, but also in terms of its willingness to defend itself against threats from within and without.

Italian professor Nathalie Tocci hinted at this, noting that a 2024 Gallup poll found that only a third of Europe's residents would be willing to defend their country if it were attacked. After Hitler rose to power in Germany, the student organization at Oxford University voted by a significant majority against the possibility of defending their homeland in the event of a war. In historical perspective, it is possible, therefore, that it was not the Munich Agreement, the appeasement of German aggression in Czechoslovakia, and Chamberlain that were the exceptions, but Winston Churchill, who saw what was coming and demanded to prepare for it, who was the exception.

Europe's retreat is also expressed in other areas: economic growth, even in Germany, which was once the economic locomotive of the continent, is approaching zero. Most technological research is carried out in the United States and China (and in Israel). The celebrated automotive industry finds itself in a struggle for survival. Raw materials on the continent have been greatly depleted. And even the center of most arts moved long ago to New York (unless one considers football an art).

Despite all this, we should not treat Europe in its twilight with indifference — and not only because it is our neighbor and because Israel as a Mediterranean state is in many respects part of Europe and not the desert Middle East. Even if Europe has not yet awakened to the dangers that lurk for it, it may still play a positive role in the face of the dangers that threaten the free world.