Israel’s public relations in Europe are “miserable,” and the estrangement between Israel and the EU is both because Israeli politicians for whom Europe was the center of gravity are dying off, and because the Holocaust is receding into the “mist of history” for European politicians, Czech Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg has told The Jerusalem Post.
Schwarzenberg, whose country is among the most supportive of Israel inside the EU, said there had been a significant shift in mood toward Israel in Europe over the last year, and “it would be nonsense to deny it.”
Schwarzenberg, who met on Monday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, is on a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“Whereas 10 or 20 years ago there was a vast majority of EU countries who were definitely for Israel, now we can really rely on two countries,” he said.
“A lot of countries are rather neutral, and some clearly have the other view.”
Schwarzenberg, sitting on the veranda of the King David Hotel in a jacket and signature bow-tie while puffing on a pipe, candidly named the Netherlands and Bulgaria as the two countries Israel could rely on.
“There are two countries who are now very supportive,” he said. “The Dutch, with their new foreign minister [Uri Rosenthal], and the Bulgarians.
The young [foreign] minister of Bulgaria [Nikolay Mladenov] is a very talented man, and he seems to be very active.”
Asked about other Central and Eastern European countries that recently joined the EU and were widely considered friendly, such as Hungary, Poland and Romania, Schwarzenberg said they were indeed pro-Israel, “but they are not so active.”
The Baltic states were supportive, but “not so much in the center of EU politics,” he said.
His own country’s voice on the Middle East, Schwarzenberg said, was heard inside the EU institutions, but was not always heeded.
Schwarzenberg responded in the affirmative when asked if the overall mood and attitude inside Europe toward Israel was something that should be a cause for worry in Jerusalem.
“I will tell you something honestly,” he said. “I think the PR of Israel in Europe during the last 10-12 years was miserable.
The public relations were really miserable.”
Saying that some of Israel’s military actions were “not really helpful” on this score, the Czech foreign minister bewailed the images coming out of the country.
“You must not forget that for the average European who is not involved in politics, who sits down with a beer and wine and looks at the news on the television, the pictures he gets from here are the war on Gaza,” he said.
“The normal man and woman who look at the television see a hi-tech, superbly armed army attacking overcrowded people living in not very good conditions. So of course the sympathy is with the people there. And, of course, they hear the news of houses pulled down – there is something here in the Old Town [the Shepherd Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah], or olive trees cut down – and this creates impressions.”
Particularly rough on European sensibilities was the West Bank security barrier, he said.
“For many Europeans, who remember the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, this [the security barrier] brings back bad memories,” he said.
“The image of Israel nowadays is not a good one. A friend of Israel has to put it clearly: Your image isn’t good.”
Schwarzenberg, who was born in Prague in 1937 to a wealthy family in Bohemia before the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, and whose family fled to Austria after the communist takeover in 1948, said that Europeans were not swayed by Israel’s argument – that the barrier simply saves lives and is a security necessity.
“For a long time, the Berlin Wall was explained in the same way by the communist regime – to protect against the imperialist spies and devils,” he said. “It was explained in the same way.
So you see, it has limited credibility.”
Europeans, he said, “are not impressed by the danger that Israel is facing. They think that Israel is so strong, so superbly armed – a nuclear power – that they are not really endangered.”
Asked whether he himself understood the need for the barrier, the foreign minister said he did, but would probably have drawn it along a different route.
“I understand it, but I know it makes a terrible impression,” he said.
Despite highly critical voices of Israel in Europe, Schwarzenberg said that “nobody would want to see Israel vanish. It is a part of our culture, our work. Even the most critical of Israel see it as a partner.”
The Czech foreign minister said he felt that the dialogue between Israel and the EU was undeveloped, and placed part of the onus for this on Israel, which he said was naturally much more interested in the US.
Israel’s former leaders, he said, grew up in Europe and had a great understanding of the continent. By contrast, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “spent a great deal of his life in the US.”
This, he said, was reflective of a generational change in Israel’s leadership that was leading to a degree of political estrangement.
“When the generation of politicians who grew up in Europe died out, it changed the whole situation. The sabras were not interested in Europe anymore,” he said.
And a similar type of situation is taking place among politicians in Europe, he said.
“World War II and the Holocaust is 65 years ago. Of all my colleagues in the EU, I am the last one who still saw a Yellow Star,” he said.
“The Holocaust, for those actively involved in politics [in Europe today], is as far away as the pre-World War I events.”
The fact that “everything slowly disappears in the mist of history was also playing an “enormous role” in changing the tenor of the Israeli-European relationship, Schwarzenberg said.
I agree!
I also wasn’t impressed with guy’s advice. The problem is that the gocernments sew the seeds of antisemitism by attacking Israel diplomatically and in various press releases.
Karl Schwarzenberg was talking about perception–“P.R.” You’re talking about reality.
With the advent of photography, motion pictures, television, and youtube, “P.R.” is very much a part of modern warfare.
The comments reflect a very provincial attitude, which cannot see anything except through American lenses, for which the wold begins and ends with the East and West Coast.
If that is the way one reacts to someone who is a REAL friend of Israel and points out at a SAD FACT, that is the absolute lack of capability by Israel to show her side of things, no wonder we are at such levels…
The fact that personally I was totally against building such monstrosity in the middle of OUR Land, and would have rather seen other dissuasive measures, like seven car bombs in Arab villages for every single bomb in our midst, death penalty for terrorists and their enablers, shooting stone throwers, and pre-emptive strikes on terror bases and villages, doesn’t mean that Israel ever made any effort to SHOW THE WORLD that we are right.
Comparing Arab terrorists and Mexican workers is then idiotic and helps the Arab side, by making the world see them as poor people looking for a better life.
Ted,it’s all a bunch of drivel,the sort of nonsense that is thought up by conventional hacks & talking head “experts”.These jerks make very good livings sharing what little they think they know,for a price,with those who know even less than they do!
The EU is unraveling financially,soon the Euro will be gone.The enemies of Israel are the top establishment elite & their captive media shills,the people believe what they are told to believe,no more …no less!When European economies start to go over the cliff (probably sooner than later)the native European unemployed will start to hit the streets,burning & breaking everything in their path(recall Greece,anyone?).The Socialist elites in Brussels have only one lock on power,the ability to bestow entitlements onto the workers.A tanking economy means no funds for welfare,no funds for welfare means no bribes for the mobs,this means anarchy & defeat for the anti-Israel Socialists.When the very angry,fearful & unemployed mobs start looking around for a scapegoat guess who they will find?They will find their favorite fallguys who’m they detest so much,they will find the Moslems.A certain amount of animosity will be directed toward the remaining Jews in Europe,but that will be a sideline issue to the mobs & there will be a massive Jewish exdus to Israel from Europe.As far as dislike of Jews is an issue with the native Europeans,so what,we give them the middle finger.No more Court Jew routine for us,those days are gone!The Europeans are toothless,they can like or dislike who ever they please.If you don’t believe me ask Iran,Sudan or North Korea,they put it to Europe with impunity all of the time & could care less about European goodwill.Israel has started to develope very large offshore gas & oil fields.The Jew hating Europeans will hold their noses with one hand while they carry bags of money in the other hand to purchase oil & gas & we won’t care who they love.Turn the whole issue on it’s head & figure it from another point.Suppose the Europeans were madly in love with Israel,do you think that in time of need they would come to the aid of the Jews?We went down that road once & got hurt bad,there was a Holocaust & the Jewish people were murdered in Europe.To sum up European goodwill is meaningless & there anger is a toothless joke!
And furthermore, they must know Israel is under threat since the Europeans themselves are being subjected now to the same threat within their own countries. So I’m not buying this explanation. Israel’s PR or actions have nothing to do with Europe’s attitude. The attitude towards Israel comes from Europe’s own prejudices.
This is the result of the extremely bias distortions of the European media.
This explanation is total bull. First of all, Israel faces actual proven threats unlike the phony ones used as an excuse for the communists to erect the Berlin wall. And in any case the Berlin wall was to keep people in not out.
The degree to which Israel is armed makes no difference when it comes to suicide bombers crossing over from Judea and Samaria. Israel’s nuclear weapons and so forth are a deterrent from attack by other states but not terrorists. The fact that America is a super power did not prevent us from being attacked internally and from illegal aliens and most likely terrorists from crossing over our borders. The Europeans aren’t impressed by the danger Israel faces because they choose not to be, because they are completely close-minded when it comes to Israel and have already made their minds up and won’t be confused with facts.
Hey, but I thought Europeans were so “sophisticated” — much more so than the Americans, who, in fact, “have no history” — at least, that’s what CBC told us, and the flaky staff at the Toronto Board of Education — not to mention the snooty eurohippies on their global travels: We Europeans are “steeped in history”! It is we who are the truly cultured! You need history to have culture! And – best of all, “We love all cultures!”