Europe’s support for Israel has until recently been a rare point of political and moral consensus, regardless of national borders and across the political spectrum.But as the war in Gaza drags on, the status quo is beginning to unravel. And even though Israel and Hamas are under a now three-month-old ceasefire, the high civilian death tolls and images of death and destruction have had a cumulative effect.
Along with the U.S., European states were prime forces behind the establishment of Israel in 1949 – amid vivid memories of the Holocaust and the earliest stages of the Cold War. Those two factors kept support for Israel solid for decades, insulating the country from the kind of moral and political scrutiny applied elsewhere. Criticism was often treated as a challenge to Israel’s legitimacy as a country.
That insulation is now eroding. The conflict in Gaza has forced European governments to deal with an uncomfortable contrast between what is taking place across the Mediterranean and the values they claim to uphold – human rights, proportional response, the rule of law, and the protection of civilians.
“A reaction to an aggression must always respect the principle of proportionality, and Israel has exceeded that limit,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the United Nations General Assembly late last year. She called for diplomatic pressure on Israel to force it to reassess its actions.
Meloni’s remarks were among the strongest of Israel from a right-of-center political figure in Europe.
News from Gaza over the past two-and-a-half years – including accusations that Israel has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza – has made these issues less abstract.
Polling data shows sympathy for Israel in Western Europe began hitting historic lows early last year, and in many countries it is now below support levels for the Palestinians.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has become a focal point for divergent criticism.
On the left, Netanyahu is cast as proof that Israel has abandoned its principles. And long-standing sympathy for the cause of Palestinian self-determination and co-existence with Israel has evolved into open hostility toward Netanyahu’s government (and at times even to Israel itself).
Meanwhile, on the right, Netanyahu is treated as an avatar of globalism and foreign influence as traditional support for Israel has clashed with national instincts, uneasiness over Middle Eastern entanglements, and fears about increased immigration and social cohesion.
Nowhere was the moral insulation stronger or more politically relevant than in Germany. But even there, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the leader of a broad coalition government with parties from both the right and left, has called for Israel to pump the brakes on its offensives.
“The Israeli government bears responsibility,” Merz said. “It should immediately refrain from taking further steps.”
Germany has at least temporarily suspended its military support for Israel, as its leaders and those of Palestinian-backed Hamas now try to agree to the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace agreement.
And in a move that would have been unimaginable before the start of the war, European leaders are considering increasingly severe trade sanctions against Israel.
Furthermore, at least a dozen European Union member states have diplomatically recognized the sovereignty of a Palestinian state, though it is significant that the European Union as a whole has not considered such a move.
Europe’s struggle to reconcile its historic alliance with Israel with new ethical constraints appears to be part of a broader identity clash. That conflict has also come to light amid Europe’s dealings with the Trump administration in the U.S. on tariffs and its aggressive stance on Greenland, Europe’s level of support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and its policies on mass migration and asylum standards.
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