Alliance of Hate: How Does the Israeli Right Converge with the European Right?

As the right-wing tide rises across Europe, the Israeli Occupation finds itself in an unlikely alliance with some of its former enemies.

From France’s Marine Le Pen to Italy’s first female prime minister, from Greece’s surging far-right to Spain’s conservative resurgence, from Germany’s anti-immigrant populists to Hungary and Poland’s long-standing nationalists, the Israeli Occupation sees potential partners who share its views on the “Israeli–Palestinian conflict” and its hostility toward Muslim migrants.

But this alliance is not without its paradoxes. Many of these right-wing parties have a history of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and glorification of Jewish killers.

Some, like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, have openly attacked Jewish figures like billionaire George Soros with classic tropes of European Jew-hatred.

Others, like Poland, have clashed with “Israel” over their attempts to whitewash their role in the Nazi genocide.

And some, like Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have joined forces with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrad Group, a bloc that has thwarted EU efforts to criticize the occupation and settlement policies of “Israel.”

The Israeli government has not shied away from cooperating with these parties, arguing that geopolitical realities require cold decisions that advance its political interests.

But it also faces a dilemma: How to balance its ties with the European right with its relations with the U.S. administration, which has expressed its frustration with Israeli actions and policies toward the Palestinians.

As the Israeli Occupation seeks to gain Western legitimacy from its new allies, it risks increasing its international isolation over time.

 

Israeli Warning

The Israeli Occupation cozying up to far-right parties in Europe poses strategic and moral risks, a new Israeli study warns.

The study, published by the Institute for National Security Studies in 2019, argues that such ties could alienate “Israel” from its traditional allies on the left, as well as from liberal and Jewish groups in Europe.

The study, titled Polarization in the European Union and the Implications for Israel: The Case of the Netherlands, examines the challenges and opportunities that the rise of far-right parties in Europe presents for the Israeli Occupation and its political elites.

While these parties may seem like natural allies for “Tel Aviv” because of their pro-“Israel” stances, the study cautions that they also harbor anti-Semitic sentiments and agendas that could undermine the interests and values of “Israel.”

The study notes that although “Israel” benefited greatly from Trump’s alignment with the policies of the right-wing government led by Netanyahu, this shift also provoked more criticism of “Israel” among many circles of the Democratic Party.

The study stresses that “Israel” faces an ethical dilemma in dealing with the far-right in Europe, as many of these parties and groups openly espouse anti-Semitic rhetoric and views.

It cites a report by de Volkskrant newspaper that exposed anti-Semitic discourse among WhatsApp groups and youth networks of the FVD party, one of the largest far-right parties in Holland.

It also warns that the Israeli alliance with far-right forces could damage its ties with Jewish communities in Europe, who have expressed their opposition to such an alliance and their concern about the rise of anti-Semitism among elites and voters of the far-right.

While the far-right parties may be more sympathetic to the security concerns “Israel,” they also face criticism from the Jewish communities in Europe for their nationalist and anti-immigrant agendas.

 

Israeli Right

The Israeli Occupation has long pursued its interests with a pragmatic approach, often disregarding the moral implications of its actions.

A recent example is the revelation that “Israel” sold its spyware program Pegasus to several countries, some of which used it to spy on their allies, including the United States.

But the Israeli Occupation’s pragmatism is not limited to its cyber activities. It also extends to its political alliances with some of Europe’s far-right movements, which have a history of anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism.

In Germany, the birthplace of the Third Reich and the Nazi ideology that persecuted and killed millions of Jews, the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) featured Yair Netanyahu, the son of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on one of its campaign posters.

The poster quoted a tweet by Netanyahu’s son, in which he declared: “Schengen zone is dead, and soon your evil globalist organization will be too, and Europe will return to be free, democratic and Christian!”

Netanyahu’s son was not reluctant about expressing his support for a Christian project in Europe, nor were the AfD leaders about their admiration for “Israel” and its nationalist policies.

The AfD is not the only far-right party in Europe that has sought to forge ties with “Israel,” despite having a legacy of anti-Jewish sentiment.

Across the continent, populist and nationalist parties have embraced “Israel” as a model and an ally, sharing a common hostility toward Muslims and immigrants.

On December 5, 2010, “Tel Aviv” hosted a high-level European delegation that included political leaders such as Geert Wilders from the Netherlands, Filip Dewinter from Belgium, and Heinz-Christian Strache from Austria.

For years, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cultivated ties with some of Europe’s most far-right leaders and parties, overlooking their anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions in favor of their support for his hard-line policies.

But his cozy relationship with the continent’s fringe movements also exposed the contradictions and risks of his approach, which alienated many Jews and liberals in Europe and beyond.

 

Netanyahu’s Reach

Netanyahu’s outreach to the far-right began in earnest in 2017 when he visited Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had repeatedly praised Miklos Horthy, the country’s wartime leader who collaborated with the Nazis and deported hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths.

Netanyahu ignored Orban’s praise of Horthy, as well as his anti-Semitic campaign against the Jewish billionaire George Soros, and focused instead on his opposition to Iran and criticism of the European Union.

The Israeli Prime Minister also courted the right-wing leaders of Poland and Lithuania, two countries where most of the Jewish population was wiped out during the Holocaust, often with the help of local collaborators.

Netanyahu glossed over the historical facts and the attempts by these governments to whitewash their role in the genocide, and praised them for their friendship with “Israel” and their stance against anti-Semitism.

In 2018, the Israeli Occupation invited Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to visit the country, despite his coalition with a neo-Nazi party.

Kurz tried to appease his hosts by acknowledging Austria’s historical guilt and expressing solidarity with “Israel,” but he faced a backlash from a Holocaust survivor who challenged him on his party’s ignorance of the Nazi atrocities.

The Israeli Occupation apologized to Kurz for the incident, and Netanyahu hailed him as a true friend of “Israel” and the Jewish people.

But there was one far-right leader that Netanyahu shunned: Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally party.

Le Pen had tried to distance herself from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had called the gas chambers a detail of World War II and had sent one of her deputies to “Israel” to seek dialogue.

But “Israel” rejected her overtures, citing the party’s ideology and history.

Le Pen remained an outlier in Netanyahu’s otherwise warm embrace of Europe’s far-right.