The Palestinian Proxy War

A member of the European Parliament has given a shocking speech at Ben Gurion University alleging that the EU is using the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as a "proxy war" against the US.

European Union Parliament member Ilka Schroeder delivered an address entitled, “The European Union, Israel, and Palestinian Terrorism” at the Center for German Studies of Ben Gurion University on Monday.

“The Europeans,” explained MP Schroeder, “supported the Palestinian Authority with the aim of becoming its main sponsor, and through this, challenge the U.S. and present themselves as the future global power. Therefore, the Al-Aksa Intifada should be understood as a proxy war between Europe and the United States.”

“It is an open secret within the European Parliament that EU aid to the Palestinian Authority has not been spent correctly,” MP Schroeder said during a recent address in New York. “The European Parliament does not intend to verify whether European taxpayers’ money could have been used to finance anti-Semitic murderous attacks. Unfortunately, this fits well with European policy in this area.”

Indeed of nearly 250 million Euros given to the Palestinian Authority annually by the EU, most simply disappears. Undoubtedly much of it goes to expanding Yassir Arafat’s personal fortune as well as providing arms, explosives, and other aid to attacks against Israeli civilians. Certainly it isn’t going in any large part towards hospitals, schools, or infrastructure, most of which is crumbling across Palestinian territory due to neglect.

In her Ben Gurion University address, MP Schroeder argued, “The primary goal of the EU is the internationalization of the conflict in order to underline the need for its own mediating role,” warning that renewed European calls for a multinational force in the region – heard most recently by the head of the largest political bloc in the parliament – combined with heightened levels of anti-Semitism in Europe and the Arab world, could spell disaster for Jews everywhere. “The Palestinians are playing the ugly role of being the cannon fodder for Europe’s hidden war against the U.S.,” she adds.

This is an exceptionally harsh charge to make, but there’s certainly an element of truth to it. The Europeans are hardly coy about their desire to surpass the United States and obtain superpower status for themselves. Certainly there are some in the EU who would gladly use such a cynical strategy to bog down the US in the Middle East. The question is how much of this is reflected in official policy and how much of it is simply a function of Europe’s fundamentally skewed view of this conflict. Certainly Europe’s overwhelmingly one-sided view of the Arab-Israeli conflict is blinding them to the consequences of their actions, especially in the way that funds are not being properly accounted for and used to finance terrorism. Schroeder continues:

“There is no difference in the consciousness of an average member of the European Parliament and an average German peace demonstrator, and I consider this to be a mixture of naivete, moralism, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism and an altogether serious danger,” she said during her U.S. speaking tour. “It is against these trends that my efforts are directed.”

Indeed this much is true. The attitudes of the European intelligentsia are overwhelmingly based on a mixture of naivete towards the Palestinians genocidal intentions and a sense of false moral superiority when it comes to Israel. The European press is beginning to resemble itself from 50 years ago, which is enough to cause anyone to worry. The same threads of radical anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, and support for radical social movements caused the most destructive war in human history. Thankfully there are those like Schroeder who realize the danger such an attitude entails and are willing to stand against it. Hopefully there will be more like her.