Don’t Turn Your Back on Israel, Departing Diplomat Tells Europe

Brussels appears always to be looking for new ways to punish Israel for its war against Hamas terrorists. But the country’s outgoing ambassador to the European Union insisted they are taking the wrong approach because “we are basically a dream for the EU of a neighboring country.”

Haim Regev told Politico that attempts to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration over its campaign in Gaza “will never work” but could prevent Europe from “playing a role in what’s going on the day after for the region.”

He added that Israel-EU relations are better behind closed doors than they appear on the outside, though more than 1,000 EU workers are now demanding that the Commission abandon the Middle East’s only democracy in other ways. At the same time, the Council of Europe is pushing for its 46 member states to stop delivering arms to Israel for use against Hamas.

Regev seemed to suggest that these critics should be careful what they wish for, since “Israel is the only player in the region that serves directly the interests of the EU.”

We are a democracy, there is no issue with migration, gay rights. It’s a dream.

Israeli officials are confident that, despite the agitators, there is not enough support throughout the whole of the EU for certain measures, like suspending Israel from parts of the Horizon Europe research programme, to be enacted. That is largely thanks to Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Germany.

They are, however, far less hopeful about antisemitic trends across the continent. The U.S. Department of State’s latest reports on human rights practices point to “reports of crimes, violence, or threats of violence motivated by antisemitism” in Germany, France, the UK and elsewhere.

Regev said that the situation is becoming so bad that “it has become a danger to be here [in Europe] a Jew.”

We are going back to old days. Some of it new antisemitism, some of it old antisemitism. And it’s not safe.