Has Europe Abandoned Israel?

May 2025 marked a striking shift in official Western positions toward Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. For the first time, the rhetoric took on a legal edge, referencing war crimes, suggesting reevaluation of ties with Tel Aviv, and calling for limitations on economic and military cooperation. What once seemed like an impenetrable wall of Western support began to crack—not only in media or civil society, but within the halls of parliaments and ministries themselves.

But the core question remains: Why now? What made this shift possible after decades of complicity or silence? What regional, legal, and internal dynamics converged to produce this new reality? And more importantly: Will these positions—still shy of comprehensive sanctions—actually influence Israel’s behaviour? Can they meaningfully chip away at the political impunity Israel has enjoyed for decades?

This article offers a structured exploration of these questions by tracing key developments in Western attitudes, analysing their motivations, and assessing their potential impact.

I. Unprecedented Official Western Positions

In the first week of May 2025, Europe’s political discourse witnessed a sharp turn. Official statements came with unusual legal clarity and were followed by real—albeit limited—policy actions. The long-standing diplomatic restraint towards Israel appeared to be fading.

Condemnation of Israel’s Ethnic Engineering and Legal Recognition of Palestine

On May 7–8, six European countries—Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Norway, and Iceland—issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s attempt to alter Gaza’s demographic makeup as forcible transfer and a war crime. They also explicitly recognised Gaza as an integral part of the State of Palestine—a legal affirmation European states had long avoided.

Accusation of Starvation as a Weapon

The same statement labelled Israel’s blockade since March 2 as a total obstruction of humanitarian and commercial aid, demanding its unconditional removal.

On May 12, the World Health Organization confirmed that Gaza was experiencing one of the worst hunger crises on the planet, with dozens of children having already died. The WHO described this catastrophe as deliberate deprivation of food, approaching the legal definitions of war crimes or even genocide.

Rejection of U.S.-Israeli Aid Distribution Mechanism

On May 19, 22 countries—including France, Germany, the UK, and Canada—rejected the newly proposed U.S.-Israeli mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza. They argued the system was ineffective, politically biased, endangered aid workers, and undermined UN neutrality. They stressed that Gaza’s population is on the brink of famine and must receive aid without political strings attached.

Calls for Arms Embargo and Policy Reassessment

The Netherlands signalled a major shift when its foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, called for drawing a red line by reviewing the EU-Israel partnership agreement and freezing any governmental support for its renewal.

Ireland’s Senate voted unanimously in April to sanction Israel and to ban U.S. arms shipments through Irish airspace—symbolic yet indicative of a broader institutional shift.

Movement Toward Recognising Palestine

France, Luxembourg, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia all hinted at recognising the State of Palestine as a political necessity to preserve the two-state solution. This followed Ireland, Spain, and Norway’s formal recognition in May 2024, with Slovenia joining in June—raising the number of EU states with recognition to at least ten, mostly from Western Europe.

Britain Joins the Shift

On May 20, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a suspension of free trade talks with Israel and sanctioned three settlers and two Israeli organisations for violence in the West Bank. Lammy also denounced the Gaza blockade as morally indefensible and called for its immediate end. Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed these sentiments, urging for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid, stating that the suffering in Gaza is unbearable.

II. The Power of the Street and the Breaking of Silence

So why now? Is this a fleeting moment of moral outrage—or the beginning of a systemic realignment?

The shift was not born from a sudden moral awakening in Western capitals. It was forced by a perfect storm: relentless pressure from media, activists, human rights bodies, and grassroots mobilisation—all intensified by the brutal clarity of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

Images of starving children, mass graves, and flattened neighbourhoods broke through censorship. Over 350 global artists condemned Israel’s actions as genocide in a letter circulated during the Cannes Film Festival. Major organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UNICEF documented the atrocities in horrifying detail.

In the U.S., campus protests surged during Biden’s final months in office, branding him Genocide Joe. The protests only intensified under Trump’s second term, especially in labour unions and universities.

Europe’s streets also roared. Madrid, Dublin, The Hague, Oslo—all saw massive demonstrations demanding an end to the war and accountability for Israeli crimes. In an institutional first, Norway’s largest labour union (LO) voted 88% in favour of a full boycott of Israel, including divesting pensions from companies complicit in occupation.

The popular wave exposed deep fractures in political discourse. With over 53,000 Palestinians martyred, including 15,000 children, entire infrastructures—health, education, agriculture—obliterated, and a UN-confirmed famine, silence became a form of complicity.

While scepticism about Western resolve is warranted, these are not minor ripples. Countries like Ireland and Spain are pushing measures once deemed radical—arms restrictions, diplomatic reassessments, and recognition of Palestine.

Coordinated blocs, like the six-nation foreign ministers’ statement, are also emerging. Within the European Parliament, calls to hold Israel legally accountable are growing louder.

III. Geopolitical Repositioning: A Quiet Reset

This transformation is not just moral—it’s strategic.

While European critique of Israel was rising, Trump’s White House launched multiple regional initiatives. On May 7, it helped de-escalate a crisis between India and Pakistan, working with the G7. It also brokered a Red Sea naval truce between the Houthis and the Saudi-UAE coalition via Oman.

These moves cooled regional flashpoints, weakening Israel’s long-standing narrative of an existential threat from the “Axis of Resistance” (Iran–Houthis–Hamas). With that narrative defanged, Europe faced less U.S. resistance in taking bold stances.

Some speculate Gulf monarchies quietly supported this calm in exchange for Washington applying pressure on Israel—thus enabling European realignment without sparking a clash with Washington.

So, this wasn’t a spontaneous awakening—it was a carefully managed political repositioning, but one that yielded space for unprecedented European actions: treaty suspensions, sanctions, ambassador recalls—in London, Dublin, Oslo, and beyond.

IV. Is Israel the New South Africa?

Can this pressure bring real change?

The sanctions are not yet comprehensive, but their impact is real. European arms contracts are being cancelled. Ireland’s refusal to allow U.S. arms flights across its airspace creates logistical headaches. Bans on dual-use technologies hinder the production of advanced Israeli weapons. The Netherlands and France hinting at freezing trade relations adds to Israel’s growing economic isolation.

Politically, Israel’s image is crumbling. Once seen as a “natural” Western ally, it now finds itself under scrutiny, dragged back into international courtrooms and UN bodies.

And this pressure isn’t just top-down—it’s embedded within Western civil society: trade unions, students, artists, politicians. Legislatures that once whispered in defence now speak openly.

These moves may be limited, but they pierce the long-standing Western consensus on unconditional support for Israel. They pave the way for tangible measures: treaty reviews, diplomatic downgrades, financial sanctions—all of which mirror the early steps taken against apartheid South Africa.

It is not yet a collapse. But it is a crack—one that, if widened, could rewrite the terms of Israel’s impunity.