Europe’s stance on Israel shifts as pro-Gaza protests sweep the continent

 A profound shift in European sentiment towards the Israel-Gaza conflict is becoming increasingly evident, marked by widespread pro-Palestinian protests across major cities, growing calls to ban Israel from sporting and cultural events, and the deployment of European navies to facilitate aid into Gaza.

Several nations have also taken the once-unthinkable step of recognising a Palestinian state.

As outrage over the escalating humanitarian catastrophe intensifies, a growing number of European leaders are openly condemning Israel’s conduct in the war. Driven by mounting pressure from their populations, the leaders are now pushing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire and ensure the unimpeded flow of aid.

“There has been a groundbreaking shift in Europe, where somewhere over the last year, populations have been putting more pressure on their governments, which has helped break taboos at the top over criticism of Israel," Sanam Vakil, director of the Chatham House think tank’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said.

This evolving stance is exemplified by Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, previously one of Israel’s staunchest EU allies. Last week, following a nationwide strike and extensive pro-Palestinian protests from Palermo to Milan, Ms Meloni announced her support for European Union sanctions against Israel – her toughest position to date.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Ms Meloni said: “Israel ended up violating humanitarian norms, causing a massacre among civilians.”

Since 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched air and ground attacks on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half.

The war has also destroyed vast areas of Gaza, killed 289 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, displaced around 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, and caused an outbreak of famine in Gaza City.

Pro-Palestinian protests have grown, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), which monitors worldwide conflicts. From December to April there were 780 protests across Europe. That has grown to 2,066 in the last five months, an average of at least 15 a day, researcher Ciro Murillo said.

The protests cut across parties and include members of Europe’s large Muslim communities, an important voting bloc in countries like France and Germany.

In the past six months there were only 51 pro-Israel protests in Europe, about half of them in Germany. ACLED data showed a steep drop in public support for Israel starting a few months after the war began.

Speaking at the UN two days after Ms Meloni, Mr Netanyahu seemed to acknowledge the turn.

“Sure, in the days immediately following 7 October, many [leaders] supported Israel. But that support quickly evaporated when Israel did what any self-respecting nation would do in the wake of such a savage attack,” he told world leaders.

Israel’s deep ties with Europe

With a shared birth in the aftermath of the Second World War, Israel and the European Union are intricately interwoven.

Almost all Jewish Israelis trace their heritage to either the broader Middle East or the Jewish communities of Europe laid waste to by pogroms in the Russian empire and the genocidal Third Reich of Germany.

“Israel is from Europe, and anyone who fails to admit it or understand it doesn’t really understand this country,” said Sharon Pardo, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and author of a book on European-Israeli relations, Uneasy Neighbors.

Strategic practicality drove Israel towards Europe, even if many considered it “a continent of murderers”, Dr Pardo said.

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, built the now longstanding economic, political and cultural ties with Europe. Today, the EU is Israel’s top trading partner.

“These were the immediate markets for Israeli agriculture, this was the market for weapons for Israel,” Dr Pardo said.

But the embrace by Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, of far-right European parties has antagonised the European political establishment.

“Netanyahu’s Israel is an anti-European Union country, a Eurosceptic country that does its utmost to harm the European integration project,” Dr Pardo said.