{"id":710,"date":"2024-06-07T12:30:39","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T09:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710"},"modified":"2024-06-07T12:30:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T09:30:42","slug":"battleground-is-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"The battleground is Palestine\u2019: Israel\u2019s war looms over European elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EU insiders and voters say many will be backing parties that are supportive of Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 Elections<\/a> for the European Parliament traditionally focus on issues such as the cost of living, farm policies, climate change and the European Union\u2019s migration policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the continent prepared for this week\u2019s critical votes, a new topic surged to the forefront \u2013 Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How EU politicians are addressing Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and the future of Palestine has become a central theme driving political discourse and voters\u2019 choices in the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonally, I perceive it [Palestine] as a crucial factor that allows voters to see the true colours of the parties they support,\u201d said Maruska, \u200b\u200bwho has Slovene-Italian roots and will be voting in this year\u2019s EU elections for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will be voting from Germany, and there is only one party who is vocal about the cause \u2013 MeRA25,\u201d she added, referring to the leftist, pro-Palestine European political group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Thomas Maddens, a filmmaker and activist based in Belgium, Palestine is a subject of colonial dynamics that he said politicians in Europe should address in light of the continent\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, if you can\u2019t get it right on Palestine, I\u2019m not going to vote for you,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 373 million people are eligible to vote in the elections<\/a> being held from Thursday to Sunday. They will elect 720 members of the European Parliament. Besides playing a crucial role in shaping EU policies, these lawmakers also elect the bloc\u2019s top leaders, such as the foreign policy chief and president of the European Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Botenga of Belgium\u2019s leftist Workers\u2019 Party and an EU lawmaker campaigning to hold his seat, said: \u201cWhile travelling around the country to campaign, I\u2019ve seen people talking about classic election topics like purchasing power, climate change and migration. But this year, discussions over Palestine has been a central topic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cI think EU citizens have seen how establishment politicians really like to speak about Ukraine and say how much the bloc really needs to support Ukraine, give them weapons and money to win the war. But then with Palestine, there has been a degree of hypocrisy and double standards. People want this to end. So how politicians address Palestine will influence the European elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"EUMarc Botenga, third from left, of Belgium\u2019s leftist Workers\u2019 Party and an EU lawmaker, takes part in a pro-Palestine protest in Belgium [Courtesy of Workers\u2019 Party]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannes Fehr, one of the leading German candidates for MeRA25, said many Europeans want to be on the right side of history while voting this year.

\u201cMany people want their EU leaders to stop supporting the genocide in Gaza as well as the possibility to vote for a truly international option that represents not only people from one country but from everywhere,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a pro-Palestine party, and in Germany, we have seen a lot of pushback from basically all the major parties, starting from the Palestine Congress to our Free Palestine posters that are constantly torn down and even burned. But we are not giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Europeans represented better by Macklemore than European Commission\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The war in Gaza<\/a> and tensions in the West Bank<\/a> have seen millions of people in the EU and globally protesting for months for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Brussels, even diplomats and staff members of EU institutions have taken to the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite unusual to have civil servants protesting like this,\u201d an EU official told Al Jazeera. \u201cBut the sickening horror of what Israel is doing in Palestine is difficult to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict, as well as the recognition of Palestine as a state, have become something of a litmus test for the European elections, according to a European Parliament staff member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCandidates who talk about human rights and climate justice in their campaigns but remain silent on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu\u2019s actions in Gaza reveal inconsistencies in their political agenda and prove we [the EU] are still far from addressing intersectionality of social, civic and environmental rights,\u201d the staffer told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUkraine was an easy moral win for centrist European politicians. They were happy criticising the war crimes of a belligerent neighbouring power when it was Russia. But when it was Israel killing civilians, suddenly they couldn\u2019t find their voice,\u201d another EU official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEuropeans find themselves better represented by Macklemore than the European Commission.\u201dVideo Duration 01 minutes 58 s:58<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 wounded in Gaza since October 7 in Israel\u2019s assault, by far its deadliest war on the enclave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign began after Hamas, which governs Gaza, sharply escalated the historic conflict by launching incursions into southern Israel during which 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 were taken captive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Parliament has called for \u201can unconditional ceasefire\u201d and for Israel to open all humanitarian aid crossings into Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, EU members Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have announced their decisions to recognise<\/a> Palestine as a state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForeign affairs is often a political football in the EU parliament. Political groups like Spanish right-wing politicians often bring Latin American countries onto the European Parliament agenda as a way of trying to embarrass the Left and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats [S&D] party. But over the past few months, increasingly the battleground is Palestine,\u201d an EU diplomat told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPost the elections, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be a case of \u2018I\u2019m Israel, you\u2019re Palestine\u2019, but rather politicians who are in favour of international law vs those who are willing to defend a genocide,\u201d the diplomat added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU lawmakers currently sit in the parliament as seven political groups \u2013 the S&D, European People\u2019s Party (EPP), Renew Europe, Greens\/European Free Alliance (EFA), European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Identity and Democracy (ID) and The Left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hussein Baoumi, foreign policy advocate at Amnesty International, politicians from left-leaning parties have been vocal about Palestine in election campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, EU lawmakers from right-leaning political groups have taken either a cautious stance or refrained from commenting on the conflict between Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"EUA protester in Brussels demanding a ceasefire in Gaza criticises European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen [Courtesy of protester]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s campaign video, it is clear that she is trying to distance herself from the war in Gaza and hasn\u2019t posted any pictures from her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, for voters in the continent, while the Palestine factor is important, domestic issues like cost of living and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine are more urgent. The war in Gaza will neither make nor break the European elections,\u201d Baoumi predicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Marco, a voter in Belgium, \u201cEurope\u2019s legitimacy and credibility is at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood luck explaining to voters why we need to support Ukraine\u2019s right to self-determination while denying the same right to Palestinians and arming the oppressor. This sort of double standard is hard to ignore,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU insiders and voters say many will be backing parties that are supportive of Gaza.  Elections for the European Parliament traditionally focus on issues such as the cost of living, farm policies, climate change and the European Union\u2019s migration policy. But as the continent prepared for this week\u2019s critical votes, a new topic surged to the forefront \u2013 Palestine. How EU politicians are addressing Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and the future of Palestine has become a central theme driving political discourse and voters\u2019 choices in the 27-nation bloc. \u201cPersonally, I perceive it [Palestine] as a crucial factor that allows voters to see the true colours of the parties they support,\u201d said Maruska, \u200b\u200bwho has Slovene-Italian roots and will be voting in this year\u2019s EU elections for the first time. \u201cI will be voting from Germany, and there is only one party who is vocal about the cause \u2013 MeRA25,\u201d she added, referring to the leftist, pro-Palestine European political group. For Thomas Maddens, a filmmaker and activist based in Belgium, Palestine is a subject of colonial dynamics that he said politicians in Europe should address in light of the continent\u2019s history. \u201cFor me, if you …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3,24,30],"tags":[43,48,39,42,45],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-palestinian-feminism","category-news","category-news-solidarity-movement","category-news-gaza-genocide-and-resilience","tag-freegaza","tag-freepalestine","tag-palestine","tag-protest","tag-standwithpalestine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe battleground is Palestine\u2019: Israel\u2019s war looms over European elections - Republic Palestine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EU politicians are addressing Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and the future of Palestine has become a central theme driving political discourse and voters\u2019 choices in the 27-nation bloc.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The battleground is Palestine\u2019: Israel\u2019s war looms over European elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EU politicians are addressing Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and the future of Palestine has become a central theme driving political discourse and voters\u2019 choices in the 27-nation bloc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Republic Palestine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T09:30:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T09:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-07-at-12.29.42\u202fPM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1196\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"792\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RepublicofPalestine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RepublicofPalestine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/republicpalestine.com\/en\/?p=710\",\"name\":\"The battleground is Palestine\u2019: Israel\u2019s war looms over European elections - 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