One word missing in the contemporary European Holocaust narrative is the word ”Israel”

Tomas Sandell is a Finnish journalist who has been accredited by the European Union. He is  the Founding Director of European Coalition for Israel, a Christian initiative promoting Europea-Israeli cooperation. Thomas Sandell wrote @ Times of Israel:

There was not much sympathy for Israel in the comments made by senior European leaders after the nuclear deal with Iran announced on Tuesday. German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier was quick to point out that ”the Israeli Government should at least read the agreement before they start criticising it.” He is not alone. Back in 2003 an EU survey came to the bitter conclusion that ”Israel is the main obstacle to world peace.”

European irritation with Israel is obvious again now. 

The argument is simple: the nuclear race has been stopped and diplomacy has finally won. So the Israeli Prime Minister is against the agreement. Big deal?

The lack of understanding for the concerns expressed by the Israeli Government is remarkable, given that what we know as the European Union is often said to have been built out of the ashes of the Holocaust.

Each year on January 27th, Holocaust Remembrance Day, senior political leaders across Europe express their commitment to stand with the Jewish people in Europe when they are under threat. ‘There can be no Europe without Jews’, the EU Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, stated in January after the terrorist attack in Paris where five Jews were killed in cold blood.

But what about Jews (and Arabs) in Israel? One word which is often missing in the contemporary European Holocaust narrative is the word ”Israel”.  EU leaders deplore the terrorist attacks in Toulouse, Brussels, Paris and Copenhagen but are mostly silent when terror strikes in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Netanya. When I introduced myself to a senior EU official on Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this year by saying that I am the founder of the European Coalition for Israel, his reply was as shocking as it is typical for some members of the European ruling class: ‘And what does Israel have to do with any of this?’ More.