European Anti-Semitism and the Religious Right

[Classical_Liberal]

European Anti-Semitism and the Religious Right
by Jon Basil Utley
November 13, 2003



New polling shows that most Europeans – 59% from 15 European Union countries – see Israel as "the greatest threat to world peace." (See Eldar article below)

These views of course come from Israel's expansion of settlements, the brutal occupation, vicious reprisals and consequent disruption in the whole Muslim world, contribution to terrorism and so on. The United States, which pays for it all, is consequently also hated, but many Americans don't comprehend all this because U.S. television coverage is sanitized compared to what the rest of the world sees.

What is not understood in Europe is the power of the Religious Right in Congress and how responsible it has become for Israel's policies, because it provides cover and money for everything that Sharon does. Europeans think it is the power of the Israeli Lobby which has morphed into a Sharon-Likud lobby, but Jews are immensely divided and very many are among the most critical about where Sharon's policies are leading. The RR is the real force making Bush cave in to Sharon at every meeting and afraid to make any demands for peace or show American resolve. The RR was also a main supporter of the attack on Iraq. Today its members are called "Christian Zionists."

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/utley10.html

[Resistance]

1. very good points made here.

particularly:

"Europeans think it is the power of the Israeli Lobby which has morphed into a Sharon-Likud lobby, but Jews are immensely divided and very many are among the most critical about where Sharon's policies are leading. The RR is the real force making Bush cave in to Sharon at every meeting"

[aneerkoinos]

2. Not so good point

Because it just doesn't ring true. Europe has it's own religious right who think Israel can do no wrong. I live in Europe, and I don't think that the roles of both Likud-lobby and RR escape those Europeans who follow these matters.

[aneerkoinos]

3. On the poll

The question on the poll was not about greatest threat to global security, but about about which countries from a given list were considered a threat. Thus Israel is not perceived by Euros as the greatest threat (that would be US), just most "popular" threat.

The question was not even about actions of any governement, just general and generic threat, as Iraq (without governement) also scored very high as a threat.