U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights is an expression of the warn ties between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. president. But despite the U.S.'s central role in the international arena, the big picture is more complicated. Two days after the American recognition of the Golan as Israeli, the European Union published an opinion contrary to that of Washington which stated that 28 EU member nations did not recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli.
Israel has an almost automatic tendency to reject the European position as rooted in anti-Semitism. There is nothing absurd in that response. Growing anti-Semitism in Europe has been presented in a number of reports that reviewed 2018 and showed, among other things, a 70% increase of anti-Semitic statements in France and about a 60% increase in anti-Semitic attacks in Germany. The Netherlands saw an all-time high in anti-Semitic incidents even though only 25% of the Jews who experienced anti-Semitism said they reported it to the authorities. A new report out of Britain delves more deeply into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and recently seven Labour MPs have left the party over entrenched anti-Semitism in its ranks. In the city of Aalst in Belgium, a March festival included a particularly repulsive display featuring classic anti-Semitic stereotypes: Jews in ultra-Orthodox garb, holding sacks of money and rats (the creators said it was intended to spark a debate about the cost of living).
However, despite this problematic reality, in the past few days and weeks, we've seen signs that the European establishment is taking unprecedented steps to battle anti-Semitism in U.N. organizations. In UNESCO, from which Israel and the U.S. withdrew last year, Austria and Poland condemned the Aalst festival display. In contrast to the absence of the American voice, representatives of the two European countries opposed any attempt to whitewash the display, arguing that it was blatantly anti-Semitic. The European condemnation of the festival where the figures were paraded was planned as a starting point for a more in-depth debate at the next meeting of the organization, and it could wind up to the Aalst festival being removed from the list of cultural heritage events recognized by UNESCO.
Another recent example comes from the head office of the European delegation to the United Nations, which held a special discussion – attended by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon – about the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. The discussion focused on the background of a historic declaration by all EU member nations at the end of 2018 in which they committed to fighting anti-Semitism and taking stronger action to secure and protect the continent's Jewish communities and institutions.
There was also the plenum discussion in the U.N. Human Rights Council in March, one of three held regularly every year. In the meeting, all European countries voted against all four resolutions proposed by Article 7, which by definition addresses subjects having to do with Israel. This is the only article of the 10 regularly discussed by the UNHRC plenum that is limited to a single nation – a bias that guarantees that Israel is discussed every time the plenum convenes. The European policy is particularly notable given the Trump administration's isolationist policy, which rather than condemn the council's conduct and influencing it from outside, prefers to boycott it and by so doing reduces America's ability to affect the most problematic forum for Israel.
So it's clear that despite the spread of popular anti-Semitism in Europe, and the EU's refusal to recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights, the European establishment is taking a stance against anti-Semitism and is even on Israel's side in important spheres from which the U.S. has chosen to absent itself. Given this complicated picture, Israel should continue to foster relations with EU nations and take steps to minimize the perception that Israel's interests completely dovetail with those of the Trump administration, whose policies and style often spark antagonism in international circles, even outside Europe.
