Determinants of relations between the European far right and occupying powers – Arab News Agency

As the war of extermination against our people in Gaza continues, the international community fails to stop it, intentionally or unintentionally, intensifies its plans for the occupation of the West Bank, and the measures taken by Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionist Party and his successor Netanyahu, and even all the pillars of the government and opposition, threaten and intimidate our people and threaten to expand their war in the East and the North, in their crisis and in competition over the degree of harm done to our people and the people of the region, they try to flee forward, while none of them considers that their occupation is the source of their crisis and that their stability is closely linked to the freedom and dignity of our Palestinian people.

In this light, in addition to the nature of Zionist ideas, questions arise about the ideological and political motivations behind these policies, which are enthusiastically embraced by the extreme right around the world and which have become a reality today. Its influence has significantly increased, especially in Europe after the rise of the extreme right and populist right wing forces. In most of the countries of the Old Continent, these countries have become exhausted by their dependence on American policies. The wars they have carried out there and their impact on the economic and social conditions of the European people.
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These additional motives can therefore refer to the consensus and identification of the two parties today, based on the theories of the clash of civilizations and the replacement of civilizations, which have become characteristic of the policies of Smotrich. And all Zionists, who are implementing these policies on the ground against our Palestinian people, the assumed future of the two-state solution and the right to self-determination, on the one hand, and the same theories that today influence current thinking on the other hand, despite the anti-Semitism and populism of the far right (if this is only the past according to the historical narrative, despite the non-Semitism of European Jews and the consent of the representatives of the far right to the Nazis… The Zionist movement acquired part of the incinerators in the 30s of the last century to facilitate the migration of settlements to Palestine in exchange for Jewish money); today, this European far right is actively fighting “anti-Semitism”. The same is true of the leaders of the far right and moderate parties in France and other European countries, who won the first phase of the parliamentary elections with a large lead at a time when Israel occupied Gaza and carried out massacres, destruction, burning and torture in Gaza. Likewise, they took to the “battlefields” and the streets to demand not only an end to the massacres and occupation, but also an end to “anti-Semitism” and the affirmation of Israel’s right to defend itself under no circumstances. Any criticism of the crimes committed by the occupying Power against our people.
There is a strange atmosphere of hysteria in these European countries against anyone who criticizes Israel’s crimes, especially against Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the United Left in France, and all the European left parties, who have unprecedentedly escalated demonstrations of solidarity with our Palestinian people and condemning the crimes of the occupation. They are accused of anti-Semitism, just as the leader of the British Labour Party was before them.
The support of the European far right for Israel has resulted in Israel’s crimes and policies being whitewashed in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. They are whitewashed because of support for “victim Israel.”
The vision and measures announced by Smotrich a few days ago represent the true face of Zionism and all its components in the West Bank. He is known for his extreme right-wing religious tendencies and is supported and supervised by the founding father of the far right, Netanyahu.
It adopts policies aimed at strengthening Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, exercising full control over Area B similar to Area C as defined and detailed in the Oslo Accords, and undermining the Palestinian presence there through multiple measures announced and approved by the occupying government, including the idea that it serves a “Jewish state”, which also relies on belief in the same ideological sources of the European far right, which are:
First is the theory of the clash of civilizations, proposed by Samuel Huntington, which assumes that future conflicts will take place between cultures and civilizations, rather than between nation-states. In the Palestinian context, this theory is adopted by most Zionist circles and their Israeli political parties to justify their colonial policies, as they describe the conflict with the Palestinian people as part of a wider conflict between Western civilization (of which they consider Israel to be a part) and Islamic civilization, of which the Arab Christians of the Arab Levant are considered to be a part, and their interpretation of the biblical Talmudic religious beliefs of the “nation of Judea and Samaria”, and Zionist ideas serve the political and economic motives of Zionism. The United States drafts plans for our region and the wider region, including in their projects on a new Middle East, and connecting Asia to Europe through new trade and sea routes, as well as energy and gas issues, in an attempt to prevent changes in the international system to counter China, Russia and the BRICS. It itself expresses the tendencies of the European right, which sees Israel as a line of defense for Europe against the erosion of Eastern civilization.
On the other hand, these theories have channelled the hostility of the European far right towards other ethnic groups in European society, including anti-Islamic views (Islamophobia) and hostility towards immigration issues in Europe.
Secondly, the replacement theory, which advocates an organized attempt to replace the “indigenous population” with other communities (usually immigrants), is believed by the European far right in response to the phenomenon of immigration to Europe in search of a better life in conflict zones around the world. In the Israeli context, this theory is used to portray the Palestinians as a demographic threat that must be dealt with through various forms of oppressive racism, including forced displacement projects, and increasing the number of Jewish settlement immigrants to Palestine in order to reach a demographic reality that ends the majority status of the Palestinians in the Mandate Palestinian lands and achieves their superiority, or even a purely Jewish existence, freeing them from the charge of apartheid.
Therefore, after the repeated victories of the extreme right in Europe, which appear to be “a tractor on a rope”, the risks facing us Palestinians today are increasing due to the consensus and identification reached by both sides. This may lead to hostility towards any tendency to criticize the policies of the occupying power in a short period of time, until the people of the occupying power once again believe that the Jews in Israel are the victims and we Palestinians are the perpetrators of heinous crimes.
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This could affect the continued success of the extreme right in other European countries in the principle of a two-state solution, albeit one that is being used as a slogan by the European moderate right without being combined with an implementation mechanism, and therefore is impossible to achieve, because without punitive measures the EU cannot agree with the UN to make the occupying power at least comply with international law and UN resolutions. The more failures that are happening with regard to Jerusalem and the settlements, and now in stopping the genocidal aggression in Gaza against all our people, even some of them are involved, if this situation continues, it will lead to an increase in political and military tensions in the region and a decrease in confidence in international action, with Israel not respecting its decisions, even those of the International Court of Justice. As long as this situation continues, the right of our people to self-determination is at risk and international support is weakened without any opportunity for negotiation, and the occupation forces insist on targeting all the components of the occupation forces, which are keen to hinder the broad national unity within the framework of the liberation organization and weaken the Palestinian leadership by besieging it.
If the far-right and populist Trump wins, the policies announced by Smotrich and the entire Netanyahu government in the West Bank, intersecting with the theories of the clash of civilizations and replacement, will form a complex reality that threatens the security of Israel and the future of the Palestinian people and postpones their historical rights, since these policies will depend on strengthening Israeli control and undermining the Palestinian existence through repressive measures, with the aim of changing the demographic and geographical composition of the region, which will gain greater support among the global far-right forces, making the Israelis realize through the crisis that their continued occupation is the root cause of the crisis.
Ultimately, these developments and policies require a comprehensive review of Palestine and international intervention to safeguard the rights of Palestinians and achieve a just and sustainable peace in the region. A more humane and just approach by the international community can help mitigate the severity of the conflict and increase the chances of achieving peace and stability in the Middle East based on freedom and justice.
Marwan Amir Tubasi
Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds