The Charlotte Jewish News - May 2001 - Page 3
Disdainful European Views of Israel
By Kenneth W. Stein
(Paris) — Israel has few friends
in Europe. In the months ahead,
Europe’s collective adversarial
relationship toward Israel is likely
to worsen.
It is not clear whether anti-
Israeli attitudes or pro-Palestinian
feelings are European intellectual
covers for deeply held anti-
Semitic sentiments.
Jews in Europe have little influ
ence on public and governmental
attitudes toward Israel. In num
bers, Jews are either too small or
lack leadership. They certainly are
absent a trans-European Jewish
lobbying organization; there is no
AIPAC equivalent in Europe
which promotes Israeli interests to
politicians, parliaments, and the
media. With few exceptions, the
print and electronic media are reg
ularly cold if not disdainful of
Israeli policies.
By and large, European foreign
ministries and civil servants who
deal with the Middle East consid
er Israel responsible for the stale
mate in Palestinian-Israeli negoti
ations. A member of the Belgium
foreign ministry defined Israel as
a “historic mistake” and Sharon’s
electoral victory as “disastrous.”
But his views were at the extreme
end of an anti-Israeli sentiment
spectrum.
With an American administra
tion unwilling to be actively
engaged in Arab-Israeli diplomacy
at present, most individual
European foreign ministries and
European Union policy-makers
are eager to play a more active
role in Palestinian-Israeli negotia
tions. Finally, European decision
makers portray American admin
istration and congressional sup
port for Israel, regardless of party
configurations in Washington as
obstacles in the way of Israeli con
cessions.
These and other conclusions
emerged from meetings with
Middle Eastern specialists in
Europe. Public seminars, private
talks, and candid interviews that
focused on American foreign poli
cy and the Middle East predomi
nated two weeks of exchanges in
Hamburg, Berlin, Munich,
Brussels, Milan, Bari, and Paris.
Organized by American cultural
attaches as part of public affairs
out-reach programming, this trip
resulted in extraordinarily frank
discussions with high ranking
civil servants, diplomats, acade
mics, business people, and jour
nalists.
Proximity to the Middle East
has always shaped European atti
tudes toward the region. With a
long imperial presence in North
Africa and the Middle East, slav
ishly dependent upon the region’s
oil and natural gas, and suscepti
ble to labor migrations from an
exploding labor supply,
Europeans preach Middle Eastern
stability, and, therefore, a negoti
ated Arab-Israeli agreement.
Already inundated by foreign
workers, there is fear of being
overwhelmed by immigrants from
Eastern Europe, Turkey, North
Africa, and the Middle East.
However, Israel, to most
Europeans, is almost exclusively
blameworthy for the impasse in
Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
Israel is Goliath facing the
Palestinian David; Israel has
power and the Palestinians are
economically weak. Israel is an
occupying force and Europeans
dislike countries that occupy other
countries. Israel’s thirty-year pres
ence and policies in the West Bank
and Gaza are blamed for the
The View from Israel
A Major Enterprise - But
Little Known
By Carl Alpert
HAIFA - Expressions of sup
port for Israel from Christian
church groups are frequently
looked upon with suspicion by
many Jews in the belief that the
former are intent only on ultimate
conversion of all Jews to
Christianity. “Ultimate” can be a
long time, and may apply equally
to the Orthodox Jewish belief in
complete ingathering of all the
exiles and the coming of the
Messiah.
In the meantime, some millions
of Christians are becoming
increasingly vociferous and gener
ous in their support of Israel and
Jewish causes in the genuine
belief that by so doing they are
fulfilling God’s will. Had He not
promised the land of Israel to the
Jewish people?
Of the several Christian groups
active in this area, the largest is to
be found among the so-called
evangelicals who, according to
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, constitute
about one third of American
Christians.
About a decade and a half ago.
Rabbi Eckstein, an Orthodox
graduate of Yeshiva University,
became engaged in a
dialogue/controversy with a cler
gyman who had declared from the
pulpit that God did not hear the
prayers of the Jews. The result of
that confrontation was the estab
lishment of the International
Fellowship of Christians and Jews
that has steered clear of all politi
cal views and has devoted itself to
practical activity. The result has
been the raising of millions of dol
lars for specific projects such as
the financing of aliyah from the
former Soviet Union, integration
of the immigrants in Israel, special
aid to Ethiopians in Israel, philan
thropic aid to elderly Jews remain
ing in Russia, and more. Last year
alone more than $10 million was
made available for these projects.
In view of present circum
stances, effort is also now being
directed to encouraging and orga
nizing Christian tourism to the
Holy Land.
Initially the Fellowship had
done some work in promoting
good will on the American scene,
but this has now been discontin
ued in favor of the provision of
help to Israel and Jews in need of
aid elsewhere. The results are evi
dent. Over $35 million have been
given to The Jewish Agency for its
aliyah and Klita programs. Sen.
Joseph Lieberman has said that the
work of the IFCJ has been one of
the best-kept secrets in Jewish life.
The fund raising is quite differ
ent from the methods employed
by the Jewish community.
Contributions are received in
direct response to television, radio
and direct mail appeals in which
the message is based on literal
belief in Biblical stories and
prophecies. There are no dinners
or periodic campaigns. The pro
gram continues all year round, and
the office of the International
Fellowship receives from 1500 to
2000 letters a day, many with con
tributions on a monthly basis.
Administrative costs of this
program come to only 3.7%,
Rabbi Eckstein told me, but he is
not proud of the low figure. He felt
they should spend more on promo
tion, which would be productive.
(Continued on page 9)
absence of institutional and orga
nizational development in the
emerging Palestinian state.
European audiences were dis
tinctly uncomfortable with my
caustic reminder that France and
England dominated the Middle
East for centuries and did little to
educate local Arabs or develop
economic infrastructures. When
reminded that Jordan and Egypt
were stewards of the West Bank
and Gaza from 1949 to 1967, I
drew blank stares. History for for
eign ministry bureaucrats who
deal with the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict begins after the June 1967
war.
Among Europeans who deal
with the Arab-Israel conflict,
naivete is mixed with realism. For
some younger German foreign
ministry bureaucrats, the belief
persists that they, unlike an older
generation who may still be muz
zled by Germany’s historic con
nection to Jewish history. They
feel that they are not subject to the
same constraints about criticizing
Israeli policies today.
Individual foreign ministries
and politicians in the European
Union (the 15 member states)
believe Europe can and should
play a more active role in Arab-
Israeli diplomacy than in years
past. Few avoid criticism of
Dennis Ross’s exclusive handling
of Arab-Israeli negotiations over
the last dozen years. The Belgian
foreign minister who rotates to the
presidency of the EU in July is
already anticipating a more active
European role in Middle Eastern
matters. This is likely to be a nui
sance to Israel. Meanwhile, a tiny
few seasoned European bureau
crats who understand the com
plexities and uncertainties of
Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are
by no means joyful about jumping
into the diplomacy. In the months
ahead, one can expect European
economic and trade restrictions
against Israeli goods and products
to be implemented as response to
Israeli actions taken or not taken
in the territories.
Given European attitudes
toward Israel and the absence of
an effective Israeli lobbying voice
in Europe, it can be expected that
Israel will want to keep the center
of political activity vis-a-vis Arab-
Israeli diplomacy in Washington.
For opposite reasons, expect the
Palestinians and Arab states to
urge a greater European role in
Arab-Israeli diplomacy.
Dr. Kenneth W. Stein is the
author of "Heroic Diplomacy:
Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin
and the Quest for Arab-Israeli
Peace," Routledge, 1999. He
teaches Middle Eastern history
and Political Science at Emory
University.
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