JNS
You would think Spain would have other things to do beyond hectoring and undercutting Israel at every opportunity. But here it is, back again, sticking more fingers in Israel’s eyes. Recently, it was a meeting of “the Madrid Group,” organized by the Spanish government to lean heavily on Israel to end the war against Hamas. Twenty countries attended. Spain seeks to have as many European countries as possible sign on to an embargo of arms sales to Israel.
At the meeting’s conclusion, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called out Israel for its “inhumane” war in the Gaza Strip, adding that the war is “senseless.”
Pot Calling The Kettle?
Senseless? What short memories they have in the Spanish capital. From 1959 to 2011, Spain fought a drawn-out war against the Basque National Liberation Movement, and particularly against the separatist group ETA, which sought independence for the Basque regions of Spain.
The conflict was marked by years of terror and political assassinations carried out by the Basques, met with retribution by a series of Spanish governments. Hundreds were killed, and many more were imprisoned. Spain ultimately prevailed, and ETA eventually gave up its arms.
France had a proprietary interest in the conflict as many Basques live on the other side of the border, yet there was no “Madrid Group” in Europe calling on Spain to throw in the towel and give in to the separatists. Indeed, at various points during the conflict, ETA appeared on terrorism lists throughout the continent.
The separatists sought independence for three, mainly majority Basque provinces in Spain’s north, but there was no call for the elimination of Spain as a sovereign entity.
Israel, by contrast, is fighting a genocidal terrorist organization bent on its destruction.
One would have thought that this history should have evoked in Madrid an understanding of the threats posed to Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah (not to mention the Houthis and Iran itself). But, as in the case of the British, whose army fought the terrorist Irish Republican Army for decades, Spain will not acknowledge that there are any similarities to the difficulties experienced by Israel then or now.
Others Join In
As if that were not enough, it has joined with 16 other European Union countries—a majority—in calling for a review of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel. On this issue, the Europeans who voted in favor acted on their usual diplomatic crutch: international law. The review will investigate whether Israel has, in Gaza, violated Article 2 of the trade agreement, which covers human rights.
The vote to review was supported by several of the “usual suspects,” who consistently call out Israel for what they blindly charge are egregious violations in the conduct of its defensive war against Hamas. Besides Spain, among them are Belgium, Ireland and Slovenia. But this time, unfortunately, they were joined by countries that are considered to be good friends of Israel, including Romania and Slovakia.
(If you’re keeping score, kudos to those who voted against this latest episode of Israel bashing: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania.)
Blind To Facts
The European Union’s call for a “review” should have instead focused on Iran and its terror proxy tentacles, which have brought chaos and destruction to the region. This is piling on punishment for trying to deal a knockout blow to those who killed, raped, burned alive and pillaged Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.
The majority in Europe has chosen again not to be confused by the facts. The one or two weeks of goodwill and rote support “for Israel’s right to defend itself” that followed the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 have now morphed into a year-and-a-half of episodic laceration of Israel for seeking to defeat an existential enemy.
Certainly, since 1945, none of those voting to review Israel’s actions have had to encounter an enemy like Hamas, with a patron like Iran. But no matter. Gratuitous posturing on Israel is Europe’s order of the day.
The call for a review of the agreement came a short time after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended free-trade talks with Israel, calling the situation in Gaza “horrific.” Again, short memories and a certain overarching hypocrisy apply: When there were anti-Jewish riots in 1920-21, 1929 and 1936 in British-controlled pre-state Israel, where was the chorus of expressions of outrage in London? Not to mention the infamous 1939 British White Paper, which, had it not been promulgated, would have allowed thousands of European Jews to escape death at the hands of the Nazis.
Eurovision Contest
Back to Spain. It is leading a campaign to have Israel expelled from the Eurovision Song Contest. As it was doing so, the Israeli contestant, Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas brutality and murder unleashed upon attendees of the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, wound up finishing a strong second. She won the popular vote, despite the contest’s craven judges, who looked the other way and threw their votes to contestants who had more creativity and talent in their costumes than they had in musical talent.
The Eurovision matter is the perfect metaphor for the way Spain and Europe treat Israel in the broader landscape of diplomacy and trade.
