Column One: What Europe wants

[drdon326]

If one believes the EU's rhetoric of support for the peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the EU's actions make no sense. After all, if the EU is interested in an end to the terror war, it should be empowering anti-terror groups in the PA to uncover abuses and fight them. Yet rather than do so, the EU has shelved every report that has proven that EU funds to the PA are actually diverted to finance terrorism and incitement. If the EU wishes to play an active role in the search for peace and security in the region, it should not be condemning lawful Israeli actions against terrorists and ignoring the fact that, by its indiscriminate nature, Palestinian terrorism is an affront to the very notion of international law.

Yet, this is precisely the point. There is a yawning gap between the EU's rhetoric and its actual policies. Its rhetoric purports to work toward a workable peace between Israel and its neighbors. Its actual policy is to support the Arabs against Israel. Indeed, Europe has a three-tiered approach to the Arab world, each policy layer of which is inherently inimical to the notion of fairness and balance in relation to Israel.

Since the 1970s, Europe has embraced appeasement of the Arabs as a central plank of its foreign policy. This became entrenched in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo. As well, following the trail blazed by Charles de Gaulle, sympathy to the Arabs and hostility towards Israel has served Europe's interest in differentiating itself from the US. Because the US is committed to European security through the NATO alliance, Europe can curry favor with the Arabs from whom the US will protect it. At the same time, it can deflect Arab wrath onto the US, which is unwilling – for strategic and moral reasons – to sever its alliance with Israel.

Finally, Europe has a domestic interest in currying the favor of the Arabs over Israel. Europe has a growing Muslim population that has been inculcated with a fanatical form of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is also rife on both the left and right sides of the European political spectrum. Given this, it is good politics domestically to condemn Israel, while turning a blind eye to Arab terrorism and human rights abuses.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1085721253715&p=1006953079897
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EU hypocrisy ??.....I'm devastated.

[Jim Sagle]

1. I'm shocked and revolted!

[bemildred]

2. Oh well, as long as we're on about appeasement,

Here is some out of date (Feb. 03) Max Boot on appeasement:

FOLLOWING HANS BLIX'S devastating report and President Bush's
compelling State of the Union address, Saddam Hussein looks more and more
like a dead man walking. In all likelihood, Baghdad will be liberated by April.
This may turn out to be one of those hinge moments in history--events like the
storming of the Bastille or the fall of the Berlin Wall--after which everything is
different. If the occupation goes well (admittedly a big if), it may mark the
moment when the powerful antibiotic known as democracy was introduced into
the diseased environment of the Middle East, and began to transform the region
for the better. For the United States, this represents perhaps the last, best
chance to do what it has singularly failed to do since World War II--to provide
the Middle East with effective imperial oversight. It is not entirely America's
fault, but our mismanagement and misconceptions have allowed a backward,
once insignificant region to become arguably the main threat to the security of
the United States and the entire West.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/197abanc.asp

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Boot doesn't mince words, does he?

effective imperial oversight.

Hail, Caesar!

[bemildred]

4. Mr. Boot is not among the more subtle commentators.

I like him for that reason, his commentaries are often
unintentionally amusing, especially in retrospect.

The problem is that "appeasement" is a pejorative term,
a slightly more subtle way of dragging Chamberlain and the
Nazis into the discussion, where in fact it has no place.

That is all you really need to know about the writers
intentions. He comes not to inform but to inflame.

[Classical_Liberal]

5. The best way to end terrorism in Israel is the creation of a

state on all the West Bank and Gaza. This will cause the number of potential terrorists to decrease and make the problem easier to deal with. They are much more constructive than any current Israeli or American leaders. Using terms like Appeasement is just a way to demonize Palestinians as nazis.