According to a British Broadcasting Corporation survey that was reported yesterday:
Israel, Iran and the United States are the countries with the most negative image in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major countries. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released Tuesday…
Israel was viewed negatively by 56 per cent of respondents and positively by 17 per cent; for Iran, the figures were 54 per cent and 18 per cent. The United States had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 per cent citing it as a bad influence and 30 per cent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 per cent and positively by 19 per cent.
Another recent survey reports that Americans are increasingly sympathetic to Israel, so this is a phenomenon that exists primarily in Europe and elsewhere. Something is terribly wrong when Israel is viewed more negatively than Iran, a country whose government oppresses women, restricts civil liberties and threatens to exterminate neighboring countries. But what could the reason be?
One possible answer – usually suggested by Jews who are politically or theologically conservative — is simple anti-Semitism. But I doubt this is the case. Despite a recent uptick in anti-Semitic incidents, there has not been a widespread, organized resurgence of anti-Semitism or fascism. If those who insist that the entire world “hates the Jews” were correct, then there would be similar views of Israel throughout the world. But this seems to be specifically a European tendency.
So, why Europe? A Jerusalem Post editorial suggests an answer:
Perhaps the best explanation, then, is one given by Stephan Vopel of the German Bertelsmann Foundation for why many more Americans and Israelis favor a military strike against Iran than Germans: “While Israelis subscribe to the maxim ‘never again,’ the German dictum is ‘never again war.’” Pacifism, in other words, is the driving force behind European animus toward both the US and Israel.
Europeans realize that Iran is a threat, but they are almost as, if not more, opposed to confronting that threat than they are fearful of the threat itself.
The US and Israel, as the nations that are perceived both as Iran’s main targets and as those most actively fighting back, are threats to the European strategy of lying low and hoping that their adversary will go away.
Following centuries of war — particularly the brutality of the twentieth century — Europeans are, understandably, tired of conflict. The continent seems to have adopted the philosophy of “peace at all costs.” They are pacified and pacifist. To Europe, any and all war is bad.
The harsh truth, however, is that sometimes war is the answer (but only in defensive contexts). Sometimes one must kill those who want to kill him because no other option exists. Europeans, and pacifists in general, do not accept this fact. To them, any country that engages in war, no matter the context, is bad – and Israel, from time to time, must go to war to defend itself. To Europeans, this is unacceptable. This mentality is another reason that the continent has been slow to respond to the growing threat of extremist Islam within its borders.
Another possible reason for Europe’s negative view of Israel is the fact that a state based on a single ethnicity and religion is now politically incorrect in a climate that celebrates “multiculturalism.” Still, most states have indeed been created through the unification of peoples with a common ethnicity. (The United States is the significant exception.) The Franks became France. A loose collection of Germanic states became Germany. Various principalities and city-states became the Italy we know today.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with states based on ethnicity. (In fact, the existence of African countries — created by European colonial powers – comprised of competing tribes and peoples is a primary reason for the civil wars that are waging throughout the continent.) The only exception is when existing states try to “purify” themselves of other peoples. We all know what happens when countries try to do that: Germany, Bosnia, Rwanda, the Armenians and Darfur.
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