When long-time friends begin to desert you,
while your enemies grow stronger, you have little choice, especially if the
fate of a country is in your hands, but to make new ones.
Israel was once the darling of Europe’s liberal
political regimes, but how long ago that now seems.
Where to turn? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has found the answer: those right-wing nationalists who, whatever
their opinions about Jews per se, see in Israel a kindred spirit: a nationalist
state, one that has not fallen into the political trap of worshipping the
purveyors of globalist utopias.
Such a politics would very quickly see the
country demographically engulfed and militarily defeated by militant neighbours
who plot daily plot its destruction.
Netanyahu saluted Victor Orban as a “true friend of Israel” when the Hungarian prime minister arrived for a visit in July.
Orban proudly calls his government “illiberal” and has exhibited increasing authoritarianism at home. He has cast himself as the champion of a Christian Europe and is at odds with the EU over its policies regarding the migrant crisis.
Orban drew criticism last year for praising Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s World War II-era ruler, who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis.
One of Europe’s most controversial political figures, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, arrived in Israel for a visit in mid-December; it prompted criticism over his far-right policies and anti-migration views.
Salvini is considered the driving force in Italy’s new populist coalition government and a rising star in the nationalist movements sweeping Europe.
Declaring that he was “proud to be here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” Salvini added that whoever wants peace “must support Israel and protect Israel,” which he called “a fortress of protection for Europe and the Middle East” and a “bulwark of Western rights and values.”
He chastised the EU for its “unbalanced” position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the organization “condemns Israel every 15 minutes.”
Austria is a touchy case, though. Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl would love to visit Israel, but Israel currently boycotts her because of her affiliation with the Freedom Party, now a coalition partner in Austria’s government, which has been accused of anti-Semitism because of its Nazi roots.
Nonetheless, she has vowed to fight against anti-Zionism and to stand up for the Jewish state in international forums. Israelis are justified in feeling that the EU treats their state unfairly, she said in November, pledging to change that.
Her country, she declared, would take the lead to “inject realism” into the EU’s attitude, arguing that “Israel is often held to a higher standard than other countries.”
Czech President Milos Zeman’s speech to the Israeli Knesset in November,
in which he stressed that his country is not only Israel’s best friend in
Europe but one of its best friends in the world, underscores a major shift in
the attitude of many Jews: they now feel safer in eastern Europe than in the west.
Populist leaders from beyond Europe are also made welcome by Netanyahu. In September, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, widely accused of committing human rights abuses, paid a state visit to Israel.
This is a man who has boasted of personally ordering the extra-judicial murders of thousands of suspected criminals, of attacking the country’s media and political institutions, and making outrageous and insulting remarks to all and sundry.
Netanyahu greeted last autumn’s
election of Jair Bolsonaro, another controversial hardliner, as the new
president of Brazil, hailing his bona fide pro-Israel credentials. Bolsonaro
has pledged to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“Looking forward to your visit in Israel,” he added, referring to the far-right politician’s promise to come to Israel on a foreign trip as president.
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