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The EU's Record on Foreign Policy Is Far from Perfect

(Ha'aretz) Moshe Arens - On balance the EU has been a success in dealing with economic problems, but when dealing with political problems its record is far from perfect. There is a feeling in Europe that the EU bureaucrats in Brussels have over the years assumed prerogatives on political matters that rightly belong to the democratically elected leaders of the EU member nations, and the results have not all been good. An example is the confrontation that has developed in recent years between the EU and Russia. Brussels kept pushing the EU eastward, with NATO following, without considering Russia's sensibilities and fears. When they reached Ukraine, which Vladimir Putin considers Russia's backyard, the Brussels bureaucrats had dragged the EU too far, and an inevitable Russian reaction ensued. The EU, rather than being a force that relieved tensions, created unprecedented tension in Europe by initiating economic warfare against Russia. In dealing with the Middle East the EU's record is even worse. The EU has simply ignored the massacres in Syria, the fighting in Libya and Yemen, the rise of the Islamic State and the human tragedy of the people living in the area. It has, on the other hand, repeatedly focused attention on Israel, the region's sole democracy and only anchor of stability. Doing little to alleviate the Palestinian refugee problem, the EU obsessively criticizes Israel for not following its preferred "solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The latest example of the EU's approach to the Middle East was providing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with an opportunity to address the European Parliament, where he accused rabbis of calling for the poisoning of the Palestinians' drinking water and insisted that worldwide terrorism would be eradicated if only Israel withdrew from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. These statements were greeted by enthusiastic applause by European parliamentarians. The writer served as Israel's Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
2016-06-27 00:00:00
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