In the necessary attempts to seriously search for ways to stop the continuous, brutal and barbaric aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza for ten months, achieving this inevitably leads to shedding light on the factors that feed this aggression in many and varied forms, and in return to looking and examining what weakens them. Europe’s position supporting the occupying state quickly advances and leads these influences, and this is manifested and positioned in collective structures in all fields, the most important and effective of which is the political aspect, represented at its highest levels by the European Union system, as well as the separate European national positions, which in many cases supports the continental solidarity position.
European identification
Last month, Ms. Ursula von der Leyen was renewed as President of the European Commission for another five years, by a comfortable margin (401 votes out of 720). Her positions were blatantly biased towards the occupying state of Israel during her first term, as she dared to exceed her powers by not taking the mandate of the countries, which brought her many continental criticisms, and from her colleagues alike.
On June 4, the President of the European Council, Mr. Charles Michel, stated that von der Leyen’s positions had damaged the reputation of the European Union and led to divisions within it. Despite this, she was re-elected, which indicates the extent to which the European collective will has become aligned with the occupying state, with its strategic dimension and majority.
The European green light that gave the occupying state the right to defend itself – against the Palestinian people in Gaza who are suffering under occupation – provided a clear cover for the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing, despite its clear violation of the texts of international law, as stated by the Belgian professor of international law, Ian Vermon, who expressed what he called (European hypocrisy) and blatant contradiction, through his legal review at the press conference held by the European-Palestinian Council for Political Relations on November 15 of last year 2023. However, the European Union – until these lines are written – is pursuing the same policy, which may be considered a full partnership in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
In the context of evaluating another area of the official European role, the continued European military support for the occupying state constitutes an important and fundamental factor for the continuation of the aggression on Gaza. This is what the report issued last month by a group of 19 international civil society organizations indicated, as reported by the Quds News Network, indicating that European financial institutions provided 36.1 billion euros in the form of loans and subscriptions, and own 26 billion euros in the form of shares and bonds in companies that sell weapons to the occupying state, not to mention the European countries that continue to export weapons to the occupying state throughout the period of aggression. An advanced example of this is Germany, the second largest supplier of weapons to the occupying state in the world.
In terms of economic support, the European Union remains the occupying state’s first trading partner, with a trade volume of 46 billion euros in 2022, which is one of the pillars of the Israeli economy. Even on the issue of settlements in the occupied West Bank, which Europe considers illegal, the European Union’s policy of imposing a label on settlement products before they enter European markets is a legitimization of them and falls within the framework of direct support for the economy of the occupying state.
In another form of support for the occupying state, the European Union goes far in demonizing the Palestinian resistance and not giving the Palestinian people the right to resist, despite their being subject to occupation, which is a violation of the principles and texts of international law that give peoples under occupation the right to resist the occupying forces by all means, including armed struggle, as was also confirmed by the Belgian jurist Ian Vermon at the same press conference in Brussels last November mentioned above.
Many European countries are persisting in supporting the occupying state, by restricting the holding of events and activities in support of the Palestinian people, especially the demonstrations calling for an end to the aggression on Gaza during the past months. Germany is an advanced example of these restrictions, and we may not be exaggerating when we say that the German authorities have succeeded in planting real fear in everyone who approaches the name of Palestine, and anything related to it; in support of its justice in general, and even the manifestations of support that prevail in Germany are carried out by demonstrators who are in a state of anxiety and tension from any quick reaction to any (alleged) violation that the German authorities may see as a threat to the security of the occupying state, or in support of the Palestinian resistance, and the interpretation and its legality remain in the hands of the law enforcer!
Distortion and persecution
Support for the occupying state continues in various European countries, and during the period of the recent aggression on Gaza, with the acknowledgement that this approach is old and has a strong institutional presence. However, the role of these civil institutions supporting the occupying state – which have influence in politics, media and the economy – has grown and intensified during the past months of the aggression on Gaza!
It is the one that has deliberately and deliberately distorted and persecuted those who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, and the activities and events they carry out, and in this way it complements its tools of oppression with some official policies in the same context, and feeds that without right or law, including violating the principles of human rights that are considered (sacred), and the examples of this are too numerous to count in individual incidents.
Perhaps this broad European support for the occupying state comes in the natural context, given that Europe is the one that created the occupying state, and it is the one that has fed it with the means of sustainability throughout the past eight decades since the establishment of the Hebrew state. To ensure its strength, it has been empowered and entrenched within the European collective mind and in its reality alike, in all areas of life: economic, political, demographic, cultural, academic, and social. It is possible to consider the occupying state a local European affair. Moreover, the European environment in general is not on the side of Palestine and its people.
To ensure that this policy continues, the occupying state and its makers have sought to obscure the naked truth – through the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people and the crimes committed against them – so that the European peoples remain in a state of harmony with Israeli lies and falsehoods, and in a state of hostility to Palestinian rights.
The rise of the far right in Europe and the tendency towards racism have fueled this approach of supporting the occupying state and even allying with it, in a strange contradiction to the right’s (supposed) policy of self-isolation, while at the same time interfering in foreign affairs and supporting the occupying state, which has a location in the Middle East.
Despite the description presented of the European reality supporting the occupying state and its background, what happened and resulted from actions in favor of the Palestinian cause in support of its justice, especially supporting the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip during the past ten months, is a qualitative strategic change that created an advanced space for Palestine to build upon in the near and distant future alike in the fields of: politics, popular, media, legal, humanitarian, and other fields that branch off from them, and this is considered one of the promising and hoped-for achievements.
The open media and the fact that the naked truth has reached the entire world without embellishment – about the extent of the brutal crimes committed by the occupying state against the Palestinian people in Gaza for 10 months, and the fact that their pace has not decreased despite the long period, as well as the cohesion and resistance of the Palestinian people – played the most prominent role in the millions of European peoples coming out continuously, in diversity and intensity, demanding an end to the aggression and an end to support for the occupying state, criticizing the double standards.
Perhaps the documentary statistics issued by the European Palestinian Media Center, based in the Netherlands, that more than 22 thousand demonstrations and activities were organized in more than 605 cities in 20 European countries, reflect the extent of this change and the awakening of these peoples to the facts and the extent of the lies that were nesting in the conscience and collective mind of Europe.
We highlight in this popular movement the remarkable diversity and the new rising elements, the most important of which is the youth element, as well as the European Jewish presence supporting the Palestinian cause. This phenomenon deserves to be stopped at for the strength of its will and awareness of the details of the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people.
This popular tide was reflected during the recent election campaigns in the European Parliament, as well as local ones in several countries, especially the French parliamentary elections. Their results gave a clear indication that a promising qualitative change had occurred among many and diverse segments of European peoples without exception, and that the solidarity movement that swept the streets of Europe was reflected in the ballot boxes.
Attendance and achievements
Specialized institutions and activists have calculated in a preliminary reading that in the map of the European Parliament, whose term began last month and extends for five years, there is a bloc supporting the Palestinian cause of 100 to 150 out of 720 deputies from all over Europe. As approximate, but not exclusive, examples of those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine in various forms in the past and during election campaigns and to varying degrees from the winning blocs: Spain, 29 European deputies, France 20, Italy 24, Germany 10, the Netherlands 14, Poland 9, Belgium 5, Denmark 5 and Sweden 5.
In the local political framework, there are three events worth noting in favor of a relatively advanced presence for the Palestinian cause and the injustice of Gaza, including the victory of the France Insoumise party led by Luc Mélenchon (a prominent supporter and activist for Palestine throughout the past ten months) with 75 seats alone, within the new leftist Popular Front alliance that obtained 182 in the elections for the National Assembly, ahead of the far right and the presidential bloc.
Another example is in Sweden, with the advance of the Left Party in the Swedish Parliament elections (winning two seats), supported by the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim minorities with a strong presence, especially in the city of Malmö, which is famous for its active support for Palestine, especially over the past ten months.
Then Denmark, with its large Palestinian and Arab minority, compared to the small population in Denmark, was able to bring five members of the European Parliament, and soon two of them signed a political petition with 21 other European members of parliament, which was sent to the President of the European Commission against the European Union’s policy of supporting the occupying state.
The most obvious and prominent political step in the past ten months is now taking place in Austria, with Austrian activists running in the local elections that will be held on September 29 under the name “Gaza List.” The list has been officially approved by the official election committee as one of 11 lists that will run in the elections nationwide.
The activists succeeded in obtaining endorsements from 3,099 Austrian citizens (the minimum required is 2,600), and was able to find supporters for accreditation and exceed the required number of votes in 7 out of 9 states. This requires each of them to document their endorsement with their full information and home address, which reflects their determination and will, as well as the level of support received by the cause and the tragedy of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Even if the list does not win, the full goal has been achieved by reaching this stage. It is worth noting that the head of the list is an Austrian activist from the country’s original inhabitants.
On the legal side, and the important achievements that deserve to be stopped at, and had an impact, is the work of the “European Legal Support Center,” which declares itself as an independent institution to defend the solidarity movement with Palestine in Europe and Britain. Its headquarters is in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, and it has two offices in Berlin and London. Among its recent successes was what was announced last Thursday, August 7, about the judicial victory of the director of the Al-Haq Foundation in the Palestinian interior over a Dutch newspaper, and his obtaining compensation against an Italian newspaper, due to false accusations against him.
Formation of a new reality
The growing legal and human rights awareness among activists in general in the European continent during the past ten months, and their refusal to accept any arbitrary measures taken by local authorities, especially in Germany, against them as individuals or institutions in order to stop or limit their activity, and they followed that up by filing lawsuits and winning a fair number of them, all of this had an impact on the continuation of demonstrations and activities without stopping to support the Palestinian people in Gaza.
On the media side, with its popular and political dimensions, we stop at the Danish activists and the initiative: “100,000 Danes for Stopping the Aggression on Gaza”, which was able in record time to attract 71,000 members, more than 80% of whom are native Danish citizens, and it is in Danish. Also, the “Pulse 48” platform is an information reference about Palestine and the genocide taking place in Gaza, as it has become one of the most advanced media outlets regarding Palestine among the Danish people.
The strong support for the Palestinian cause is also evident in the churches, especially the Catholic Church in Italy.
In terms of humanitarian initiatives and relief support, this aspect has a long history in Europe at the popular level, civil society institutions and unions, especially medical ones. Despite the obstacles to the entry of aid, contributions across European countries are present and distinctive.
We conclude by saying that despite the difficulties, challenges and strong strategic relationship between the European Union countries and the occupying state, the events, the war of genocide on Gaza, the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their resistance to the aggression and its long duration, the media’s coverage of events as they happen, and the official and popular reactions around the world have created a new positive reality that supports Palestine in the political, legal, popular, media and humanitarian aspects. This will create new sustainable patterns in support of the cause even after the aggression stops, which requires early awareness in favor of investing in this by Palestinian, Arab and Muslim minorities, and supporters of the right in Europe and even outside it.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera Network.
