Pablo Hiriart
Madrid.– “It is difficult to raise good children in a country that normalizes the murder of children,” wrote Galia Oz, daughter of the great Israeli writer Amos Oz. This is happening today in Israel, where the majority of the population opposes the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip (53% against and only 34% in favor, according to a poll cited by El Mundo).
Some leaders tend to bring out the worst in many of their constituents. This is the case with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Hamas terrorist attack in Israel gave Netanyahu the excuse he needed to avoid the corruption trial he is facing in his country. As long as the war lasts, he will not leave. Netanyahu is ordering the killing of children, women, and the elderly in Gaza to save himself. The moral authority of the only democratic nation in the Middle East is in tatters.
A wave of anti-Semitism is rising in much of the West. It is impossible to avoid condemning the impunity of a criminal who is not the leader of a terrorist group hiding in caves in the desert, but holds the office of prime minister of a country. In addition to debasing a large sector of his country’s population, Netanyahu has exposed the fragility of Europe’s flagship nations, incapable of going beyond condemnatory tweets and revising agreements that do not involve any sanctions.
If Europeans complain that the United States (Trump) has abandoned them in the “defense of liberal principles” because of its short-term mercantilist policy, they are doing the same. Or worse. Trump (like Xi Jinping) at least does not dare to talk about democracy or human rights, whereas European leaders do. They pontificate. They lecture in cafés and at conferences. And they stand idly by. “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on,” says an Arabic proverb. Let’s take it step by step.
In retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,139 people and kidnapped 251 in October 2023, the Israeli army has killed 53,000 Palestinians, including 17,400 children. It has left 121,000 people wounded, 94% of homes in Gaza destroyed, 90% of the population displaced, 94% suffering from hunger (especially children and the elderly), and 80% of the water infrastructure destroyed.
No European country has broken its military or technological ties with Israel. These days, Europe is losing credibility. How can they demand that Russia or China respect human rights when they relativize them depending on who is massacring civilians and children? Business trumps principles.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands have established bilateral technological cooperation programs with Israel over the past decade, many of which are supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, which funds research in key sectors. Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute collaborates on projects with Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. In 2022, France signed agreements with Israeli cyberdefense startups to integrate them into its national technology ecosystem.
Spain has channeled European resources into joint consortia with Israeli firms in the areas of border control, drone surveillance, and agricultural technologies, especially in Andalusia. It has 46 contracts with Israel’s military industry and canceled one minor contract for the sale of bullets. The appeal is obvious: Israel is agile, innovative, and efficient. Its experience in conflict scenarios has made it a world leader in security technologies, with products that are then exported to Europe under the slogan “combat-proven.”
Germany sells submarines and naval weapons to Israel, such as the Dolphin models manufactured by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Italy imports aviation components and radars used by the Israeli army, including in operations in Gaza. Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest defense companies, operates development centers in the UK and participates in European border defense projects. In 2020, Spain authorized the export of electronic components for Israeli missiles. At the same time, Israel exports armed and surveillance drones to Europe, many of which were developed during operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
It also sells espionage and population control software, such as the widely known Pegasus from NSO Group, which European governments have used to monitor dissidents or prevent terrorist threats.
This relationship, in times of peace, may seem pragmatic. Useful, too. But given the current circumstances, it is scandalous. It is obviously not feasible to cut off technological and military ties with Israel overnight. Still, it is possible to set clear limits: partial embargoes, conditions for human rights violations, and a review of surveillance and offensive weapons contracts. European leaders also have the power to ban imports of products developed in illegal settlements or occupied areas, such as the West Bank. Some Nordic countries already partially do this.
Netanyahu laughs at the rhetoric of European governments and their diplomatic observers in the West Bank (which is Palestinian territory, geographically and ideologically distant from Gaza), and shoots them at will. What a way to expose Europe’s weakness. It tweets indignation and loses its place in the world.
Comments:
Theological problems such as those underlying the Israel/Gaza conflict are never resolved, and mutual hatred will continue indefinitely. It stems from the issue of primogeniture between Isaac and Ishmael. And it carries on into the 6th century with the Prophet Muhammad’s terrible tantrum when the Jews of Medina not only refused to recognize him as the last and greatest of the prophets, the direct messenger of God, but did not even recognize him as a prophet because he did not meet the requirements.
It is not an ethical problem. It is a theological problem. Consider the conflict between Christianity and Judaism that arose when the Jews did not recognize Jesus because he did not meet the fundamental requirement: to be a descendant of the house of David on his mother’s side. And Mary is not a descendant of David.
Furthermore, Muhammad speaks of having explicit orders from God to spread Islam throughout the world. He ends up denying the validity of the Torah and the Gospels because they are not the direct voice of God, but were written by many men and contain contradictions.
The “poor little Gaza children” argument has no validity because the Jews are the chosen people, and all that land is the Promised Land. Sad but true. The problem will never be resolved, and Hamas made a terrible mistake. It sentenced its people to death. Hamas gave Netanyahu the perfect excuse to exterminate Gaza. And I repeat, it is not an ethical problem. It’s theological. Furthermore, if you look at it, not in theological terms but in geopolitical terms, none of the Sunni countries, let alone Saudi Arabia, have supported Gaza because Iran, which is Shiite and an enemy of the Sunnis, is involved to gain access to the Mediterranean. The same goes for Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is also Shiite.
There is also a theological problem between Sunnis and Shiites. Yes, they are both Muslims, but very different in their interpretations of the Koran. The issue is very complex. In a nutshell, Hamas screwed up big time. And Netanyahu, who is corrupt and not stupid, is not going to give anything away… for theological reasons (he is supported by the religious far right) and personal reasons. As long as he remains in power, and as long as the war continues, he is untouchable.
Furthermore, Jews are matrilineal, in that being Jewish is passed down exclusively through the maternal line. In other words, if Mary does not meet the requirement of being a descendant of David through her mother, neither does Jesus. Conversely, Islamic culture is the most patrilineal of all cultures. Preferential, and sometimes prescriptive, marriage is between a man and his father’s brother’s daughter. This marriage (parallel cousin marriage) is prohibited in most human societies. This is not the case with cross-cousin marriage (a man marrying his father’s sister’s daughter or his mother’s brother’s daughter). In other words, according to patriarchal Islamic interpretation, Ishmael is Abraham’s firstborn son and heir to the prophetic line and his property, despite his mother being Egyptian. According to the Jewish interpretation, Isaac is the firstborn because Sarah is Jewish.
Mónica Sáenz.
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