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Europeans Continue Unjustified Criticism of Israel but Ignore Real Middle East Threats

(Fox News) Daniel S. Mariaschin - Even as the coronavirus pandemic rages globally and is hitting several European countries fast and hard, Europe still has time to engage in one of its favorite pastimes: criticizing and opposing Israel. The EU and some of its member states are trying to outrace each other on warning Israel's new government against declaring sovereignty in parts of the West Bank. But while they are quick to criticize Israel, they are passive about the real threats to stability in the region. Last week, Mohsen Rezaei of Iran's Expediency Council threatened to "raze Israeli cities to the ground" even in the event there is a U.S. response to Iranian attacks against American forces in Iraq. These threats - to destroy Israeli cities filled with civilians and wipe out "the Zionist entity" and the "Zionist cancer" - are made on a regular basis by leading Iranian officials. The response in Europe to such genocidal rhetoric is essentially a collective yawn. If Europe wanted to be helpful it would have been pushing the Palestinians from the time of the 1993 Oslo accords to resolve their conflict with Israel by going to the negotiating table and making reasonable and reciprocal compromises with the Jewish state. Opportunities for the Palestinians to make a deal have been presented numerous times over many years, but they have always walked away, because making peace would require their taking less than the zero-sum result they have been promising their people. The decades-long absence of goodwill on the Palestinian side, and the continued presence of Hamas in Gaza, means Israel must have a security presence in the Jordan Valley. For the same reasons, demilitarization of whatever Palestinian entity that may result from a negotiation is now a given. And a right of return for Palestinians and their descendants who fled Israel when it was created in 1948 will not happen. Europe seems incapable - or worse, unwilling - to persuade the Palestinians to do what they've refused to do until now, which is to finally level with their people about what is do-able and what is fantasy. The writer is CEO of B'nai B'rith International.
2020-05-18 00:00:00
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