Europe’s Double Standard on Israel
For decades, Europe maintained profitable trade relations with Iran while downplaying the regime’s steady march toward military power. The same leadership that openly calls for Israel’s destruction was treated as a difficult but acceptable economic partner. Yet when Israel acts against threats that were allowed to grow for years, it is Israel that suddenly faces lectures about restraint and international law.
Such moral certainty would be more convincing if it were applied consistently.
Many of the principles of international law so confidently invoked today were codified only after major powers had already divided large parts of the world among themselves. Nowhere is this more visible than in the Middle East, where borders were largely drawn by colonial administrators with rulers and pencils rather than by the societies that would later live within them.
In an age when Western societies eagerly dismantle statues, rename streets and scrutinize every relic of colonial history, these same colonial borders suddenly become sacred whenever Israel is involved. Apparently, colonialism must be canceled – except when its cartographic legacy can be used as an argument against the Jewish state.
Oil wealth adds another layer to this contradiction. Enormous fortunes transformed small desert territories with arbitrary borders into globally influential actors. Many of these states present themselves as guardians of religious tradition while simultaneously marketing futuristic skylines and luxury megaprojects to the world – often through glossy campaigns featuring influencers, curated lifestyles and carefully staged social-media fantasies.
Western economies participate enthusiastically. Machinery, infrastructure and weapons are exported with remarkable efficiency, and these profitable relationships rarely provoke the same moral debates heard whenever Israel is involved.
Israel, however, is judged by an entirely different standard. Unlike many of its neighbors, Israel did not build its global influence on oil reserves or sovereign wealth funds. Its strength comes from education, science, research and cultural creativity. Israeli innovations in medicine, agriculture, cybersecurity and technology have benefited societies across the globe. Israel is also the only democracy in the Middle East—home to free elections, an independent judiciary, a vibrant press and fierce internal debate.
Yet Israel is frequently placed on the defendant’s bench of international opinion, as though its legitimacy must constantly be re-examined while regimes with far fewer freedoms escape comparable scrutiny.
Modern antisemitism rarely appears in its traditional forms. Instead, it adapts to the language of each era. Today it often emerges through narratives portraying Israel as uniquely manipulative or uniquely responsible for global problems. Conspiracy theories linking Israel to everything from financial scandals to political intrigue reveal less about Israel than about the persistence of very old prejudices in modern packaging.
The West benefits from Israel’s existence as a democratic, cultural and scientific stronghold in a region where such institutions remain rare.
Supporting Israel should therefore not be seen merely as geopolitical calculation. It is also a recognition of shared values—values built not on oil wealth, influencer marketing or spectacle, but on knowledge, freedom and human creativity.
Europe must decide whether it prefers comfortable moral posturing.
Or whether it is finally ready to stand clearly with the region’s only democracy.
