https://arab.news/85g5u
Of all the reactions to Friday’s unprovoked Israeli blitz on Iran, the European leaders’ was the worst. None had the courage or the moral capacity to call it what it was: naked aggression against a sovereign state and a member of the UN. Interestingly, it was the leaders of the neighboring countries with a history of troubled ties to the Islamic Republic who were quick to condemn the Israeli attack as a clear violation of international law.
One must view the European leaders’ shameless position from a historical perspective. Whether it was the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, NATO’s bombardment of Libya in 2011, the genocidal war Israel is carrying out in Gaza or the stark aggression on Iran, European governments have been either directly and openly complicit or stood by and done nothing other than to lecture the world on the need to respect international law.
European leaders have also proven time and again that they are merely blind followers of the US as it dictates controversial and often illegal policies about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli occupation and persecution of Palestinians.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s quick justification of Israel’s attack on Iran was probably the worst. Other European leaders soon followed, parroting the ambiguous and misguided phrase that “Israel has the right to defend itself.” Almost immediately, the UK’s Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen were lining up to protect Israel and blame Iran for the most dangerous military escalation in the region since the first Gulf War.
