This article was originally published on JNS on May 21, 2025.
European protests against Israel are so misguided, misinformed and morally distorted that even the butchers of Hamas praise them. They align these demonstrations with their agenda, claiming that they reflect opposition to the “fascist occupation,” the “genocide” and the supposedly deliberate starvation policies of the Israeli government.
And Europe plays along, with about two-thirds of European Union countries voting for the international body to review its political and economic ties in hopes of getting Israel to cease its war efforts. At the same time, they insist that truckloads of humanitarian aid be allowed into Gaza en masse, without any concern over whose hands those supplies may fall into.
The claim that Israel is causing a “famine” has been repeatedly disproven, yet the accusation of “genocide” is endlessly repeated.
Meanwhile, Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas leader, proudly announced that at least 50,000 babies have been born since the war began and promised that 10 children will take the place of every dead fighter in the terror group’s effort to destroy Israel.
Apparently, “genocide” doesn’t apply when the victims are Jews. That, it seems, is the position of the European Union, an institution that has effectively become a grotesque embodiment of the United Nations that is increasingly hostile to Israel.
The E.U. resolution was being debated even as dozens and dozens of aid trucks were entering Gaza, perhaps in a vain attempt to avoid the inevitable: Hamas stealing the aid. That’s why the daily entry of 600 trucks, which Israel had permitted until March, was suspended. Hamas terrorists, armed with Kalashnikovs, were hijacking the convoys and using the contents to acquire more weapons, all while deliberately starving their own people to manipulate international opinion.
And they succeeded brilliantly.
Now, unless the international mechanism set up by Israel and the United States can distribute the aid independently, Hamas will continue operating as it pleases while the crucial war to stop its barbarity is distorted into a fantasy narrative portraying Israel as being cruel and indifferent to human life, a version of Israel that has never existed.
What does exist is the Jewish state’s fight to survive—not only for today, but for its children and grandchildren. Yet according to the E.U. resolution, Hamas is under no obligation to stop arming its fighters or return the remaining 58 hostages. Who are these individuals being held captive since the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023? And why should Europe care? Who remembers the Bibas boys and their mother, Shiri? Who remembers young women languishing in Hamas tunnels?
Europe has never truly advocated for the kidnapped. It forgets both the recent past and distant history. With a pseudo-humanitarian gesture, it attempts to erase a Jewish state that has consistently offered peace.
The European Union sees neither the sacrifice of young Israeli soldiers, who have been fighting for two years and giving their lives for their families—more than 850 of them in the past 19 months—nor the daily suffering of civilians living under constant rocket fire and terror attacks.
An article in Il Foglio by Adriano Sofri, a well-known intellectual, that claimed Israeli soldiers enjoy killing is a modern-day blood libel. He is not alone in his thinking. It is in the name of such blood libels that pogroms and the Holocaust have occurred.
Israel has clearly explained why it must fight and under what conditions it will stop: the return of the hostages and the disarmament of Hamas. Providing safety and security to its citizens is the cornerstone of civilization on which the European Union itself was built.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the main target of international criticism, has repeated this message tirelessly. The war that erupted on Oct. 7 was the result of years of preparation by terror and fanaticism: Hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, an entire terrorist army built with Iranian funding and Western aid—aid that came straight from European taxpayers.
The only ones responsible for this war are those who planned it, initiated it and continue it with daily attacks. It is to them that the European Union should issue a clear demand: Return the hostages. Lay down your arms. Stop the violence.
And to Israel, the European Union should say: We see that today you are no longer sheep being led to the slaughter, and we are glad.
