[News] A Common Enemy: Why Israel is Embracing Fascism in Europe

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-common-enemy-why-israel-is-embracing-fascism-in-europe/ 



  A Common Enemy: Why Israel is Embracing Fascism in Europe

August 1, 2018

*By Ramzy Baroud*

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-hungary-orban-netanyahu/hungarys-orban-tells-israel-that-jews-in-his-country-can-feel-safe-idUSKBN1K919F>Israel 
on 19 July where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 
other officials. Orban’s visit would have not required much pause except 
that the Hungarian leader has been repeatedly branded 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-speech-hungarys-orban-attacks-enemy-who-speculates-with-money/> for 
his often racist, anti-Semitic remarks.

So why is Orban wining and dining with the leaders of the so-called 
‘Jewish State <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44881554>’?

The answer does not pertain only to Orban and Hungary, but to Israel’s 
attitude 
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-pm-s-dark-deal-with-e-europe-condones-anti-semitism-and-occupation-1.6249033> towards 
the rapidly growing far-right movements in Europe as a whole. Netanyahu 
and Zionist leaders everywhere are not just aware of this massive 
political shift in European politics but are, in fact, working 
diligently to utilize it in Israel’s favor.

On his visit to Israel, Orban asserted that Hungarian Jewish citizens 
should feel safe in his country, an odd statement considering that it 
was Orban and his party that deprived 
<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-viktor-orbans-war-on-george-soros-and-hungarys-jews/> many 
Jews and other members of minority groups of any feeling of safety.

Still, Netanyahu has welcomed Orban as a “true friend of Israel” and 
Orban called 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-splitting-the-eu-israel-s-tightening-alliance-with-central-europe-1.6247069> on 
his European counterparts to show more support for Israel. Mission 
accomplished.

Netanyahu visited 
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/benjamin-netanyahu-hungary-state-visit-viktor-orban-antisemitism-controversy-farright-a7846346.html> Budapest 
in July 2017 but that supposedly historic visit did nothing to change 
Hungary’s official discourse, which is dotted with racism and 
anti-Semitism. In fact, in March 2018, Orban derided Jews, focusing his 
criticism 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-speech-hungarys-orban-attacks-enemy-who-speculates-with-money/> mostly 
on Jewish financiers such as George Soros.

At an election rally campaign, Orban said 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-hungary-pro-government-weekly-prints-list-of-soros-mercenaries/>, 
“We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open but 
hiding; not straightforward but crafty; not honest but base; not 
national but international; does not believe in working but speculates 
with money; does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole 
world”.

It is well-known that Israel and Zionist leaders are quite selective in 
manipulating the definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ to serve their political 
agendas, but Israel’s attitude towards the racist far-right movements in 
Europe takes this truth to a whole new level.

Indeed, the ‘special relationship’ between Netanyahu and Orban is only 
the tip of the iceberg 
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-pm-s-dark-deal-with-e-europe-condones-anti-semitism-and-occupation-1.6249033>. 
For years, Netanyahu’s Israel has been ‘flirting’ with radical right 
movements in Europe.

The unmistakable Israeli strategy, of course, has its own logic. Israeli 
leaders feel that Europe’s move to the far-right is irrevocable and are 
keen to benefit from the anti-Muslim sentiment that accompanies this 
shift as much as possible.

Moreover, the EU’s resolve to label 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-eu-labelling/israel-fumes-over-planned-eu-labeling-of-settlement-products-idUSKCN0SZ21120151110> illegal 
settlement products and refusal to heed calls for moving their embassies 
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is pushing Netanyahu to explore these new routes.

During his previous visit to Hungary Netanyahu met with leaders from the 
so-called Visegrad-4, which includes Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic 
and Slovakia.

On that visit, Netanyahu hoped to find new channels of support within 
the EU, through exerting pressure by using his new allies in these 
countries. In an audio recording obtained by /Reuters/, Netanyahu 
chastised Europe for daring to criticise Israel’s dismal human rights 
record, illegal settlement policies, and military occupation.

“I think Europe has to decide whether it wants to live and thrive or it 
wants to shrivel and disappear,” he said. 
<https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1A40WV>

Netanyahu’s arrogance is unbridled, especially as the censure is 
emanating from a leader who represents an ethno-nationalist state, which 
has just recently canceled any reference to democracy in its 
newly-issued Jewish Nation-state Law 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-passes-controversial-nation-state-bill-1.6291048>.

The new basic law defines Israel by an ethnic identity, not any 
democratic values. Netanyahu is now closer to Europe’s far-right racist 
groups than to any liberal democratic model, thus the ongoing flirting 
between Israel and these groups.

In fact, the term flirting is itself an understatement considering that 
Israel’s ties with various far-right, neo-Nazi and fascist parties in 
Europe involve high-level political coordination and, in the case of 
Ukraine in particular, the actual supplying of weapons.

Human rights groups recently petitioned 
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/rights-groups-demand-israel-stop-arming-neo-nazis-in-the-ukraine-1.6248727> the 
Israeli High Court to stop Israel’s export of weapons to neo-Nazi groups.

The Israeli far-right embrace touches almost every single European 
country, including Italy and Germany, whose history of Nazism and 
Fascism has wrought death and misery on millions.

In Italy, the connection between Italian far-right parties and Israel 
goes back to the early 2000s, when post-fascist leader Gianfranco Fini 
labored to rebrand his movement.

Initially, Fini was the leader of the Movimento Sociale 
Italiano (Italian Social Movement), which saw itself 
<http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/cera-volta-movimento-sociale-italiano-1346043.html> as 
the “heir to the Fascist Party”.

The rebranding of the party required a trip 
<http://www.repubblica.it/2003/k/sezioni/politica/finisr/leggi/leggi.html> by 
Fini to Israel in 2003, after changing the name of his movement to the 
National Alliance. Interestingly, in his highly-touted visit, Fini was 
accompanied by Amos Luzzatto, the head of the Italian Jewish community.

Unsurprisingly, far-right leader, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s current 
Interior Minister, went through the same political baptism by Zionist 
Israel as Orban and Fini by paying a visit 
<http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/politica/2016/03/30/la-prima-di-salvini-in-israelee-modello-sicurezza-_f3692753-52e0-4445-b2f3-787586db10b1.html> to 
Tel Aviv in March 2016 to launch his political career and declaring his 
undying love 
<http://www.lastampa.it/2016/03/30/italia/salvini-in-cravatta-prove-da-leader-nel-viaggio-in-israele-saRnFgZPPSQeWKZwfD396K/pagina.html> for 
the Jewish State.

The same scenario is being repeated in Germany where the far-right party 
– Alternative for Germany//(AfD) – has risen in ranks to the point that 
it nearly toppled a government coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

AfD has more in common with Israel than the common anti-Muslim and 
anti-immigrant views. The party which is “derided for anti-Semitic, 
xenophobic views redolent of the Nazis is also staunchly supportive of 
Israel,” reported 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/loathed-by-jews-germanys-far-right-afd-loves-the-jewish-state/> 
/The/ /Times of Israel/.

Last April the anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic German party enthusiastically 
began a campaign 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-far-right-mp-pushes-recognition-of-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/> pushing 
for the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, despite Merkel’s 
views to the contrary.

The story, however, does not end there. What began as Israeli flirting 
with far-right racist movements is now Israel’s official policy towards 
Europe. The same story, with different actors and names, can be found in 
Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO), Belgium’s Vlaams Belang (Flemish 
Interest) and virtually everywhere else.

It remains to be seen how Israel’s embrace of fascist Europe will bode, 
both for Israel and the European Union. Will the EU shrivel and 
disappear, or will Israel finally be exposed for what it truly is, 
an ethno-nationalist state with no interest in true democracy in the 
first place?

/– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine 
Chronicle. His forthcoming book is ‘The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story’ 
(Pluto Press, London). Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the 
University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for 
Global and International Studies, University of California Santa 
Barbara. His website is //www.ramzybaroud.net/ 
<http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>/./

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