Israel’s relationship with Europe reached an unhappy watershed on Tuesday as British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced an unprecedented set of sanctions targeting West Bank settlements.
He was joined by France and Canada, and a group of other Western countries signed on to a statement that they would support European Union measures against Israel.
The true scope of the sanctions remains to be seen, as do the precise means of implementing them.
Regardless, the decision underscores how ineffective Israel’s government has been in maintaining support among erstwhile Western partners, who are increasingly unhappy with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Instead of working to isolate obsessively anti-Israel countries in Europe like Spain and Ireland, Jerusalem is making it easy for those critics to pull powerful states to their side.
