Behind Europe’s uprising against Israel | policy

Over the course of two years of genocide committed by the extremist Israeli government, millions of European people took to the streets to support the Palestinian cause, as the number of events supporting the Palestinian cause was estimated at more than 45,000 events spread in 800 European cities across 25 countries in Europe.

The peoples of the European continent were among the continents who most stood against the genocide committed by Israel, and in support of the rights of the Palestinian people.

Some European countries witnessed an intense popular movement in support of the Palestinian cause, and at the forefront of these countries is Italy, which during two years of genocide witnessed more than 7,600 events in more than 186 cities.

While it was followed in support of the Palestinian cause by Germany, which witnessed more than 7,000 events in more than 131 cities, and then was followed by Spain, which witnessed more than 5,900 events in 134 cities, with an intensity at the level of events in Britain and France.

In the Netherlands, more than 250,000 people participated in the latest demonstration, and it may be one of the largest demonstrations in the Netherlands, as well as in the rest of European countries.

This movement resulted in the recognition of the Palestinian state by more than 10 new European countries. The most prominent of these countries that recognized the state of Palestine were Britain, France, Australia, and Canada, bringing the number of European countries that recognize the Palestinian state to 22 countries, out of 27 countries.

But what happened and is happening in Europe? Who is leading this movement?

1- The European left is the main driver of these transformations

The phenomenon of the European left’s bias toward the Palestinian issue is a remarkable phenomenon. However, it is not possible to place all of the European left in one basket, neither in terms of intellectual ideology, nor in terms of its enthusiasm for supporting the Palestinian cause, as the left in Europe is divided into three types: The first is the radical left, the center left, which includes the social left, and the democratic left.

The radical left is characterized by its advocacy of social justice, combating neoliberalism, advocating for the rights of immigrants, supporting the rights of weak and oppressed peoples under occupation, supporting all minority issues and gender equality, combating racial discrimination and social gaps, and supporting issues of environmental preservation and social equality.

This left is considered a minority in Europe, although it sometimes participates in government coalitions. This left is the primary and main driver supporting the Palestinian cause in Europe, and a staunch opponent of the extremist Israeli government.

While the social left in Europe is supportive of the Palestinian cause, it is less enthusiastic than the radical left, as it focuses in its political theory on social justice, human rights, solidarity with minorities, protecting the rights of the weak, and calling for an increased role of the state in providing basic services such as health and education.

This left enters into political alliances and participates in forming coalition governments. Therefore, we find that its positions are less severe in confronting the crimes of the Zionist entity, and it is less enthusiastic in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people.

Then comes the democratic left, which attempts to combine economic socialist values ​​with participatory democracy, supports social justice through democracy, and supports the idea of ​​a mixed economy between the free market and the state providing basic services, such as health, education, and infrastructure. It also supports human rights, civil rights, and support for minorities and their rights.

This left is usually the one that leads coalitions in forming governments, so it is less interactive than the radical left in supporting the Palestinian cause and siding with the rights of the Palestinian people.

2- Generation Z interaction in Europe

The generation born between 1997 and 2012, whose ages range from 13 to 28 years, known as Generation Z, interacts greatly with the Palestinian issue. This generation, which grew up on the information revolution and social networking sites, constitutes approximately a quarter of the demographic composition of European societies.

Opinion polls show that the generation between the ages of 14 and 18 in Europe is the generation most sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the most supportive of the rights of the Palestinian people, unlike older people who support the Palestinian cause less than the younger generation. The phenomenon of the young generation’s support for the Palestinian cause is due to several reasons: The most important of them are:

• Ease of access to information: The European peoples had previously lived under the control of the Israeli media, which exploited the “Holocaust” narrative to justify all of Israel’s actions and crimes against the Palestinian people.

With the beginning of the era of the information revolution and social networking sites, and the ease of access to information in many forms (audio, images, and video), the political scene in Europe changed for the young generation, and they began to see what is happening in Palestine as it really is, away from the control of the controlled media that passes on what it wants, and narrates and hides what it wants.

• The Western educational system for the modern generation: Which sanctifies human rights and social justice, as the young group found in the Palestinian issue and the oppression of its people the clear, realistic image in siding with human rights and social justice in its highest human manifestations.
• The modern European intellectual system Which focuses on women’s rights and children’s rights. There was great sympathy for the victims in Gaza, especially since there were more than 12,400 children who were martyred in the war and more than 1,236 Palestinian women fell in this war, which increased the great sympathy of the young generation with the Palestinian victims.
• European youth’s interest in global issues Their feeling that there is a great interconnectedness in humanitarian issues, made the interest in the Palestinian issue and genocide, which is at the forefront of the global media, the focus of young people’s attention, support, and interest in it.
• The increase in the rate of Arab migration to Europe after the Arab Springespecially from the middle classes, and the integration of Arab communities into European societies, which contributed to reshaping the European peoples’ convictions about the Palestinian issue, spreading the suffering of the Palestinian people and strengthening the Palestinian narrative about the origin and essence of the conflict and the oppression of the Palestinian people.

3- The contradiction between what is official and what is popular in Europe

Although there is great harmony between what is official and what is popular in supporting the Palestinian cause in a country like Spain, there are also official positions that are less interested than the positions of its people in supporting the Palestinian cause.

But there is also a stark contradiction between what is official and what is popular regarding the Palestinian issue, such as Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Despite the popular positions of these countries that are largely supportive of the people and the Palestinian issue, the positions of the German, Italian, and Dutch governments in particular are contrary to the positions of their people.

Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands are considered among the countries where demonstrations took place in support of the Palestinian cause, but the governments of these countries did not take real and honest positions towards the Palestinian cause. It did not recognize the Palestinian state last September, as most European countries did, and its positions in condemning Israel’s crimes were timid and did not rise to the level of the aspirations and demands of the European peoples to stand up to the leaders of the Israeli government and prosecute them for war crimes.

But why this contradiction between the official and popular positions in some European countries regarding the Palestinian issue?

This discrepancy can be explained by several factors:

• The countries that have not recognized the State of Palestine are 5 European countries, most notably Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy. All of these countries are governed by center-right governments with the participation of extreme right-wing parties. It is known that right-wing and center-right governments in Europe are less interested in the Palestinian issue, humanitarian principles, and social justice.

These governments focus on preserving national identities, confronting migrations, and developing economic programs for the well-being of their people, and do not care much about humanitarian issues and human rights, especially when it comes to vulnerable peoples.

• The volume of economic exchange between Europe and Israel, as the volume of economic exchange between European Union countries and Israel reached more than 45 billion euros, which puts economic interests ahead of human values ​​and bias towards human rights, especially among governments characterized by right-wing ideology and even among center-left governments that are more pragmatic in dealing with political positions.
• Feeling a “guilt complex,” especially in an important country like Germany, as Israel was able to weave human suffering out of the “Holocaust” narrative that makes Germany live in a permanent guilt complex that cannot be overcome, especially with the transformation of the idea of ​​anti-Semitism into a sacred idea that is difficult to touch, which makes Germany always in the accusation box, and keeps the crime of the Holocaust before it on the table in every decision it can take regarding the Palestinian issue.
• The position of the United States of America is grossly biased towards the State of Israel, as it is the country that most uses the veto to protect Israel. It has used its veto 114 times, including 80 times to prevent condemnation of Israel, and 34 times against laws that support the rights of the Palestinian people.

It is the only permanent member of the Security Council that does not officially recognize the Palestinian state, and the extent of the economic, military, and security interests that link the United States to the European Union countries, especially the major powers, is known.

The genocidal war that happened in Gaza, and in light of the spread of alternative media represented by social networking sites, and the increasing role of the left in Europe on both levels; The popular, the official, and the emergence of the Generation Z class that is liberated from the political positions, problems, and intellectual complexes that arose and formed after World War II. All of this could enable the formation of an official, elite, and popular European movement in support of the Palestinian cause. The campaigners of the Palestinian cause would invest in the media to strengthen the Palestinian narrative, which creates a state of balance at the international level in support of the Palestinian cause and the rights of its oppressed people.