Our Isolation Is Not Due to Muslim Influence
Netanyahu is desperately looking for scapegoats for the international isolation he has led Israel into. In this country, it is the opposition and the “Kaplanists,” and in Europe, it is the Muslim immigrants who are supposedly coercing the governments.
When similar claims about Jewish influence on American foreign policy are made, they are usually labeled as antisemitic, but the hypocrisy doesn’t end there.
The truth is that it is not the Muslim immigrants who are “bending” governments, nor is it Qatar, but rather the political mainstream that represents the majority of native-born Europeans, from right to left, who view the terrible images emanating from Gaza and hear the empty plans for occupation, deportation, and the transformation of Gaza into simple real estate as the Smotrich-Ben Gvir gang sees it. Europeans are acting in the name of the democratic-liberal values of their countries, their governments, and themselves.
The political change that Muslim immigration has brought to Europe is the opposite of what the Netanyahu government describes. The wave of Muslim immigration from the Middle East and Africa has actually led to the rise of the far right in Europe, whose parties are Netanyahu’s biggest supporters and with whom Minister Shikli is cultivating ties.
Furthermore, the actual political influence of Muslims in Europe is significantly less than what Israel portrays. 10 percent of the French population are Muslims, and many of them are not politically involved. By comparison, Muslims make up about 18 percent of the Israeli population, while unfortunately their political influence is not very significant.
Although in many important European countries, such as Germany, France, and the UK, far-right parties are capitalizing on opposition to immigration and racism against Muslims and gaining support, there are still many world leaders in the United States who are not driven by hatred or a lust for power but, first and foremost, by the founding values of the liberal-democratic Western world after the trauma of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust.
Netanyahu accuses Europeans of antisemitism, but according to ADL data, the percentage of antisemites is highest in the European countries that are most supportive of Netanyahu, and this is particularly evident in Hungary.
Netanyahu forgets that ultimately the world’s attitude toward Israel is relatively forgiving, even as he tries to gain popularity with his “the people shall dwell alone” programs. The broad sanctions imposed on Russia still do not apply to Israel and its leaders. Even if a tiny number of European figures, such as the President of Ireland, have called for military involvement, this is a highly unlikely scenario, as opposed to what happened in the Kosovo War, which only ended after extensive bombing by NATO member states.
Liberal Israelis need to understand that Netanyahu is lying to them as usual. He is the one responsible for Israel’s growing isolation due to his insistence on continuing a pointless and meaningless war. He blames social media, Qatari money, and Muslim immigrants, but they aren’t responsible. This is a war that is killing our soldiers and hostages and creating a humanitarian tragedy in Gaza of an unprecedented scale, which most of the world is witnessing.
Liberal Europeans are not our enemies. They admire Israel, which rose from the ashes of the horrific Holocaust of the Jewish people and became a nation of creative innovation. They came to different conclusions from the Holocaust than Israel typically does. They understood the danger of extreme nationalism and militarism, while to a large extent we internalized the victimhood. But despite their high regard for Israel, they are shocked that Netanyahu’s policies are preventing them from continuing to support us.
They enthusiastically supported Israel after the Oslo Accords because of the choice for peace. They expect much more from Israel than they do from non-democratic countries, but they are not willing to blindly support a populist government, just as they imposed sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.
Netanyahu sees before his eyes the image of Slobodan Milošević, whose path to The Hague was paved only after he was forced to resign as president of Serbia, following the protests that erupted after his refusal to recognize the opposition’s victory in the elections. This is the fate he fears most, and to avoid it, he will blame everyone but himself for all the evil he has wrought upon us, including the tightening ring of international isolation.
Milosevic also blamed everyone, but in the end, NATO managed to get rid of him. We will need to get rid of Netanyahu ourselves, but we must thank the Europeans who are no longer willing to support Netanyahu and prefer instead to support the Israeli public that is demonstrating against him.
Netanyahu knows the truth and is afraid of it. He actively coordinates all his decisions with his messianic coalition partners, for whom the war and isolation are a “time of miracle” that provides them with the opportunity for “redemption” of the land of Gaza. It is these partners that allow him to maintain his grip on power, because without it and without the war, the threat of The Hague will become tangible and immediate, as will the danger of both the current trial he is undergoing and those that may well still arise when the full picture of Qatargate and the submarine affair comes out into the open.
Instead of looking for scapegoats for the political tsunami and international isolation Israel is currently suffering from, we need to replace the government that has brought them about.