Afrasianet - Mohamed Al Awdat - Over the course  of two years of genocide perpetrated by the extremist Israeli government, millions of Europeans have taken to the streets in support of the Palestinian cause,  with more than 45,000  events in support of the Palestinian cause estimated at 800 European cities across 25 European countries.

The peoples of the European continent were among the continents that stood the most against the genocide perpetrated by Israel and in support of the rights of the Palestinian people.

Some European countries have witnessed a massive popular movement in support of the Palestinian cause, led by Italy, which witnessed more than 7,600 events in more than 186 cities during the two years of genocide.

While in support of the Palestinian cause, it was followed by Germany, which witnessed more than 7,000 events in more than 131 cities, followed by Spain, which witnessed more than 5,900 events in 134 cities, with an intensity in the level of events in Britain and France.

In the Netherlands, more than 250,000 people took part in the latest demonstration, which may be one of the largest demonstrations in the Netherlands, as well as in other European countries.

This movement resulted in the recognition of the Palestinian state by more than 10 new European countries, the most prominent of which were Britain, France, Australia, and Canada, bringing the number of European countries that recognize the Palestinian state to 22 out of 27 countries.

But what has happened and is going on in Europe? And who is leading this movement?

1. The European Left is the main driver of these transformations

However, the entire European left cannot be put in one basket, neither in terms of ideology nor in terms of its enthusiasm for supporting the Palestinian cause, as the left in Europe is divided into three types: the first of which is the radical left, the center left, which includes the social left, and the democratic left. 

The radical left is characterized by advocating social justice, fighting neoliberalism, advocating for the rights of immigrants, supporting the rights of vulnerable and oppressed peoples under occupation, supporting all minority and gender equality issues, combating racial discrimination and social gaps, and supporting environmental conservation and social equality issues.

This left is considered a minority in Europe, although it sometimes participates in government coalitions. This left is the main and main driver of support for the Palestinian cause in Europe, and a strong opponent of the extremist Israeli government.

While the social left in Europe is supportive of the Palestinian cause, it is less enthusiastic than the radical left, as its political theory focuses on social justice, human rights, solidarity with minorities, the protection of the rights of the vulnerable, and the call for an increased role of the state in providing basic services such as health and education.

This left enters into political alliances and participates in the formation of coalition governments, so we find that its positions are less severe in the face of the crimes of the Zionist entity, and it is less enthusiastic in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people.

Then comes the democratic left, which tries to combine the values of economic socialism and participatory democracy, supports social justice through democracy, supports the idea of a mixed economy between the free market and the provision of basic services, such as health, education, and infrastructure, as well as human rights, civil rights, and support for minorities and their rights.

This left is usually the one who leads the coalitions in forming governments, so it is less reactive than the radical left in supporting the Palestinian cause and siding with the rights of the Palestinian people.

2- Generation Z interaction in Europe

The generation born between 1997 and 2012, aged 13 to 28, known as Generation Z, is highly engaged with the Palestinian cause, a generation that grew up on the information revolution and social media, and makes up almost a quarter of the demographics of European societies.

Opinion polls show that the generation between the ages of 14 and 18 in Europe is the generation that is most sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the most supportive of the rights of the Palestinian people, unlike older people who support the Palestinian cause less than the younger generation. 

•    Easy access to information:  European peoples used to live under the control of the Israeli media, which exploited the narrative of the "Holocaust" to justify all of Israel's actions and crimes against the Palestinian people.

With the advent of the era of the information revolution and social media, and the ease of access to information in many forms (audio, image, and video), the political scene in Europe has turned upside down for the younger generation, and they have begun to see what is happening in Palestine for what it is, away from the control of the directed media that passes what it wants, and cuts and hides what it wants.

•    The Western educational system for the modern generation: which sanctifies human rights and social justice, where the young group has found the Palestinian cause and the oppression of its people to be realistic in its bias towards human rights and social justice in its highest human manifestations.

•    The modern European intellectual system that focuses on women's rights and children's rights, so the sympathy for the victims was great in Gaza, especially that there are more than 12,400 children who were martyred in the war and more than 1,236 Palestinian women fell in this war, which increased the great sympathy of the young generation with the Palestinian victims.

•    The interest of European youth in global issues and their feeling that there is a great interdependence in humanitarian issues has made the interest in the Palestinian issue and the genocide, which is at the forefront of the global media, the focus of the youth's attention, support and interest in it.

•    The increase in the rate of Arab migration to Europe after the Arab Spring, especially from the middle classes, and the integration of Arab communities into European societies, contributed to reshaping the convictions of the European peoples about the Palestinian cause, spreading the suffering of the Palestinian people, and strengthening the Palestinian narrative about the origin and essence of the conflict and the grievance of the Palestinian people.

3- The contradiction between what is official and what is popular in Europe

Although there is a great deal of consistency between the official and the popular in support of the Palestinian cause in a country like Spain, there are also official positions that are less interested than the positions of its people in support of the Palestinian cause.

However, there is also a gross contradiction between what is official and what is popular about the Palestinian cause, such as Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, despite the popular positions that these countries strongly support the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause, the positions of the German, Italian, and Dutch governments in particular are contrary to the positions of their peoples.

Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands are among the countries where the most demonstrations have taken place in support of the Palestinian cause, but the governments of these countries have not taken real and honest positions on the Palestinian cause. They did not recognize the Palestinian state last September as most European countries did, and their timid stances condemning Israel's crimes did not live up to the aspirations of the European peoples and their demands to stand up to the leaders of the Israeli government and prosecute them for war crimes.

But why is there such a contradiction between the official and popular positions in some European countries on the Palestinian issue?

This discrepancy can be explained by several factors:

•    The countries that have not recognized the State of Palestine are 5 European countries, most notably Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, and all of these countries are governed by center-right governments and are attended by extreme right-wing parties, and it is known that right-wing and center-right governments in Europe are less interested in the Palestinian cause, humanitarian principles, and social justice.

These governments focus on preserving national identities, countering migration, and developing economic programs for the well-being of their people, and do not pay much attention to humanitarian and human rights issues, especially when it comes to vulnerable peoples.

•    The volume of economic exchange between the European Union and Israel has reached more than 45 billion euros, which puts economic interests ahead of human values and human rights bias, especially among governments characterized by right-wing ideology and even among center-left governments that are more pragmatic in dealing with political positions.

•    The feeling of a "guilt complex", especially in an important country like Germany, where Israel has been able to weave human suffering from the narrative of the "Holocaust" that makes Germany live in a permanent guilt complex that cannot be overcome, especially with the transformation of the idea of anti-Semitism into a sacred idea that is difficult to touch, which makes Germany always in the category of accusations, and keeps the crime of the Holocaust on the table in every decision it can make regarding the Palestinian issue.

•    The United States of America's blatantly biased stance on the State of Israel, as it is the most veto-protecting country, has used its veto power 114 times, including 80 times to prevent the condemnation of Israel, and 34 times against laws that support the right of the Palestinian people.

It is the only permanent member of the Security Council that does not officially recognize the Palestinian state, and the extent of the economic, military and security interests that bind the United States to the European Union countries, especially the major countries, is known.

What happened in Gaza of the genocidal war, in light of the spread of alternative media represented by social media, the escalating role of the left in Europe at the popular and official levels, and the emergence of the "Z" generation class that is free from the political positions, problems and intellectual complexes that emerged and was formed after the Second World War, all of this enables the formation of an official, elite and popular European current in support of the Palestinian cause. The international level in support of the Palestinian cause and the rights of its oppressed people.

Mohamed Al Awdat - Jordanian lawyer and writer.