While EU leaders look away from Gaza's agony, European voters do care

Two devastating wars in the EU’s neighbourhood provide a chilling backdrop to this weekend’s European elections.

Both conflicts represent egregious breaches of international law and blatant violations of human rights. 

Both are testing politicians’ commitment to “European values”.

Yet only one is getting the attention it deserves.

European politicians and policymakers have rightly described the Russia-Ukraine conflict as an “existential” challenge. 

Sanctions have been slapped on Russia and Ukraine is getting more money, more weapons and a promise of EU membership.

Ukrainian refugees have been welcomed and the country’s flag adorns EU and national buildings and, occasionally, the ensembles worn by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

All this is good. 

But try doing the same for Gaza and - spoiler alert - it will be difficult.

The EU’s sadly underwhelming collective response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, following the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, is well-documented. 

But some facts are worth repeating. 

Eight months into Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza and despite recent rulings by the International Court of Justice, EU exports of arms and military equipment to Israel have not stopped, imports of weapons and surveillance technology from Israel continue and the EU-Israel agreement has not been suspended over human rights violations. 

European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi claims the dubious “honour” of having met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant even as the International Criminal Court's prosecutor asks for arrest warrants against both men over alleged war crimes.

Despite the recent recognition of the Palestinian state by Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia, Europe’s cosying up to Israel is causing irreparable damage to the bloc’s global reputation.

Many fear that by allowing Israel to flout international laws, the US and Europe have fatally damaged an already-fragilised global rules-based order.

Yes, the EU is continuing to provide desperately humanitarian aid to Gaza and contributions have resumed for UNRWA. But such assistance cannot become a fig leaf for political inaction.

Behind the headlines, there are many insidious restrictions on Europeans’ freedom of expression.

In some parts of Europe, carrying the red, green, black and white Palestinian flag, wearing the traditional black and white keffiyeh or even a T-shirt with an image of watermelons (which have become symbols of Palestine as a way to bypass attempts to censor the flag) can get you cautioned, fined or detained by police.

Ramy Al-Asheq, a Palestinian-Syrian poet who lives in Berlin, has had the keffiyeh pattern tattooed on his forearm because while a scarf can be pulled off, a tattoo can only be removed if “you cut off my arm.”

Others are opting for less permanent henna tattoos of the keffiyeh or like Palestinian-American supermodel Bella Hadid, turning their scarves into dresses.

At last month’s Eurovision song contest Palestinian-Swedish singer Eric Saade thought he could get away by wearing the keffiyeh on his wrist. But he still got reprimanded because “the EBU seems to think my ethnicity is controversial.” 

#BrusselsSoWhite

Reactions are not that different in the EU’s “Brussels So White” institutions. 

Civil servants who join pro-Gaza vigils outside the EU Commission and Council of Ministers every Thursday say their keffiyehs often get cold stares and nasty comments from those who see the scarf as “a provocation”.

As the world looks on in amazement, across Europe, student encampments and protests demanding that universities sever ties with Israel have been marred by clashes with police and arrests.

Some European journalists have lost jobs over their support of Palestinian rights or criticism of the Israeli government. Requests for the creation of a Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians trapped in Gaza or rapid family reunification for those with relatives in Europe remain unheeded.

And yet, while their leaders try to look the other way, many people do care.

Pro-Palestine rallies and demonstrations continue across Europe, providing vivid proof that hundreds of thousands of Europeans are angry and frustrated at their governments’ failure to stop the carnage in Gaza.

The EU faces a "difficult" choice between its support for the rule of law and its support for Israel according to Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign and security policy chief.

Elections could offer a way to correct course. 

Stopping the catastrophe in Gaza does not appear to be top of the agenda for any of the EU candidates seeking top Commission jobs or hoping to join the EU parliament.

Yet European politicians and policymakers who are passive in the face of a “plausible genocide” and the starvation and bombing of babies and children in Gaza, must be held to account.

This week when we enter the voting booth, we have a choice.

Voters can use their ballot to accelerate the EU’s drift towards once-forbidden far-right territory where it is okay to be racist and to dehumanise brown and black people, both at home and abroad.

Or we can elect ethical politicians with a moral compass who are not afraid to stand on the right side of history and will try to end Europe’s double standards.

Far-right parties and their friends and allies in the mainstream are confident of winning more votes in the elections and wielding more power and greater influence afterwards.

We can prove them wrong. By voting wisely we can save European values from a certain death by a thousand cuts.