End of an era: Europe’s political discourse on Palestine shifts dramatically
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, 27 May 2024
Ramzy Baroud writes in The Morning Star on 4 June 2024:
IF ONE were to argue that a top Spanish government official would some day declare that “from the river to the sea, Palestine would be free,” the suggestion itself would have seemed ludicrous. But this is precisely how Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s deputy prime minister, concluded a statement on May 23, a few days before Spain officially recognised Palestine as a state.
The Spanish recognition of Palestine, along with the Norwegian and Irish recognition, is most important.
Western Europe is finally catching up with the rest of the world regarding the significance of a strong international position in support of the Palestinian people and in rejection of Israel’s genocidal practices in occupied Palestine.
But equally important is the changing political discourse regarding both Palestine and Israel in Europe and all over the world. Almost immediately after the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, some European countries imposed restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests, some even banning the Palestinian flag, which was perceived, through some twisted logic, as an antisemitic symbol.
With time, the unprecedented solidarity with Israel at the start of the war, however, turned into an outright political, legal and moral liability to the pro-Israel Western governments. Thus, a slow shift began, leading to a near-complete transformation in the position of some governments, and a partial though clear shift of the political discourse among others.
The early ban on pro-Palestinian protests was impossible to maintain in the face of millions of angry European citizens who called on their governments to end their blind support for Tel Aviv.
On May 30, the mere fact that French private broadcaster TF1 hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led to large, though spontaneous, protests by French citizens, who called on their media to deny accused war criminals the chance to address the public.
Failing to push back against the pro-Palestine narrative, the French government has, on May 31, decided to disinvite Israeli military firms from participating in one of the world’s largest military expos, Eurosatory, scheduled for June 17-21.
Even countries like Canada and Germany, which supported the Israeli genocide against Palestinians until later stages of the mass killings, began changing their language as well.
The change of language is also happening in Israel itself and among pro-Israeli intellectuals and journalists in mainstream media. In a widely read column, New York Times writer Thomas Friedman attacked Netanyahu late last March, accusing him of being the “worst leader in Jewish history, not just in Israeli history.