Israeli government’s telling ties with Europe’s far right

In a moment of reflection, possibly of self-deprecation, Sancho Panza, the fictional character in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote,” realizes that being a servant to a rather useless master makes him “a greater fool than he is when I follow him and serve him.” This echoes the proverb: “Tell me what company you keep and I’ll tell you what you are.”

The flirtation of the right in Israel with the far-right movements in Europe — and their ill-judged joy at their representatives’ success in the recent European Parliament elections — reminded me of Panza’s comment. It derives from a similarly misguided alliance with the Christian evangelists in the US, with these Israelis mistakenly embracing short-term support from those who are, in the long-term, far from having the interests of Israel or its people at heart.

There has been a steady move to the populist right in the EU and in large parts of the US almost simultaneously. It has affected countries with diverse cultures, economies and political systems. This highly disturbing rise of the right has been attributed to a response to globalization by those who have been left behind. Those who have seen, for instance, their jobs moving to other countries. It has also been attributed to increasingly unequal economies, which have created anxiety and insecurity and a backlash against liberal values and immigrants. The evolving demographic toward more diverse and multicultural societies is seen as a threat by some segments of society.

The war in Gaza has accentuated the fault lines in Europe in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, between the liberal-progressive left and the right and even the far right. Unfortunately, both sides have a binary approach that sees the conflict as a zero-sum game and ignores the complexity of the situation. Each side exonerates its own view while vilifying the other.

The war in Gaza has accentuated the fault lines in Europe in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Yossi Mekelberg

The far right, which has traditionally been a fertile ground for antisemitism, almost unreservedly shows support for Israel, with strong Islamophobic undercurrents. Israel, which was led by socialists and social democrats in the first decades of its independence, had cultivated close relations with sister social democratic parties that represented the more progressive elements in European politics and society. However, the more entrenched the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza has become, the more strained these relations have become.

The end of the dominance of the Labor movement in Israeli politics in 1977 and the emergence of the right has shifted Israel’s allegiances in Europe. Worse, Benjamin Netanyahu has, in his long stewardship, done everything he can to destroy the possibility of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict justly and fairly based on a two-state solution. With that, he has alienated Europe’s progressives and created the conditions for today’s distorted nexus with the European far right.

As the far-right populist movements in Europe have, in their pursuit of power, become disturbingly firm opponents of immigration and multiculturalism, with strong Islamophobic tendencies, the Israeli right has begun to see them as potential allies. Thanks to the latter’s oversimplistic and distorted worldview — that the entire Arab and Islamic worlds, with the increasing support of Western progressives, are anti-Israeli and would like to see the end of the country — it found solace in the arms of the European far right, with no shred of nuance or sense of tragic irony.

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, the European far right took the side of Israel, and quite vociferously so, but this does not mean that its support will be reciprocated. For Israel, cozying up to the European right might be seen as a tool to lessen some of the international pressure on it, but in the long term it is making a strategic mistake.

Many of the current far-right leaders in Europe are astute enough not to be as openly antisemitic as some of their predecessors but, among many others, one can find antisemitic roots, such as including Holocaust denial behind their euphemisms and employment of so-called dog whistle tactics.

The founder and long-time leader of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted in 1996 of inciting racial hatred after declaring that the gas chambers used to kill Jews during the Holocaust were “merely a detail in the history of the Second World War.” The Alternative for Germany party, which enjoys growing popular support, has strong antisemitic elements among its ranks, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been using antisemitic tropes to further his political goals at home. One Hungarian lawmaker has previously called for a register of Hungarian Jews — a reminder of the dark days of Central Europe during the Second World War.

Netanyahu has alienated Europe’s progressives and created the conditions for today’s distorted nexus with the far right

Yossi Mekelberg

And guess who attended an event in Budapest not that long ago that was organized by a Hungarian historian who has been accused of distorting the memory of the Holocaust and who is closely associated with Orban’s right-wing government? None other than Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s eldest son.

And Amichai Chikli, whose official title is minister of diaspora affairs and the struggle against antisemitism and who has become, ironically, a permanent feature on the far-right convention circuit, was a featured speaker at Europa Viva 24, a conference held in Madrid in May that was hosted by the ultra-right Vox party.

What the Israeli right is getting in return is, for instance, Vox leader Santiago Abascal voicing his opposition to Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood. The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom have done the same. They have also signed a coalition agreement that includes an “examination” of moving the Dutch embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Donald Trump-style. The Alternative for Germany has, since Oct. 7, been calling for a cut in aid and funding for Palestinians.

These positions are music to the ears of those on the right in Israel, who dream of them becoming mainstream views in European politics and consequently destroying any chance of peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. To this end, Israel’s rightist politicians are prepared to get into bed with European movements that are rooted in the very views the Zionist movement was founded to oppose and that are now embracing Islamophobia, without abandoning antisemitism, as their route to power.

More than anything else, aligning themselves with the far right epitomizes the moral bankruptcy of Netanyahu and his supporters as they lead Israel down the anti-liberal and anti-democratic route. By doing so, they are betraying the memory of all of those who suffered through hundreds of years of antisemitism.

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at international affairs think tank Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg