Yesterday the Prime Ministers of Greece and the Netherlands visited Israel to express their support for the Government in these critical hours (and, incidentally, to strengthen the image of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu). Today it will be the turn of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
As highlighted by news media critical of the Government, Netanyahu already has more photographs with Western leaders on a pilgrimage to Israel than with those injured in the attacks of October 7 or attending the funerals of the 1,400 dead Israelis, after the poor reception shown to the ministers who they approached the area adjacent to Gaza.
The Western pilgrimage, launched by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, resembles that of Ukraine as soon as it became clear that Volodymyr Zelensky was holding out in Kyiv and embodied Ukrainian resistance to Russian encroachment. With airs of a race and despite the logistical difficulties, the European leaders traveled to Kyiv even at the cost of being greeted with demands for military and financial aid. Apparently, these were win-win photographs, positive for both Zelenski and the leader in question. Not always the case now…
The fashion for short visits, a bit like diplomacy in Kyiv, is being reproduced at an accelerated pace in Israel, with a similar staging. The Prime Minister receives the visitor in turn at the entrance to his official residence. Netanyahu always wears a black shirt and pants and is outgoing.
The list grows every day. After President Biden, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, with an international profile that is still below the brand he represents.
Just after Shabbat, the holy holiday and weekly rest, appeared the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, the only one who mentioned an “anti-Semitic” background to the terrorist attack, in indirect response to the demonstrations of support for Palestinians in several European cities. “We fought yesterday and we must fight today against anti-Semitism”. The Israeli prime minister welcomed the move, symbolic or otherwise. “There is one thing better for us than being on Israel’s side and that is being in Israel.”
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutter, and Netanyahu conveyed yesterday a sincere relationship and not at all protocol. As is the norm, the Israeli prime minister characterizes what has happened as a “battle for civilization” and reiterated that Hamas is the new Islamic State, which was fought without much concern in Syria.
The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, coming from the failed summit in Cairo, showed himself to be the least protocol and the most political guest, because while expressing the solidarity of the Government and the Greek people, he reminded the host that we must distinguish between Hamas and the Palestinian people and take into account the civilian population, within the “right of response” that Israel supports.
Today, it is the turn of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who will hardly fail to mention, in the line of Mitsotakis, the distinction between Hamas and Palestinian civilians and the moral obligation to minimize the victims and their suffering.
Two obvious factors will weigh on the visit: France has seven kidnapped citizens (Israel put the total number at 222 yesterday, from more than 40 countries), has suffered 30 deaths at the hands of Hamas and is one of the countries with the largest Muslim population and more problem of Europe.
Israel does not need military aid – except from the United States – or financial assistance. There are no public requests for visitors, but there is a need to receive support on the eve of a land offensive that will leave striking marks and a trail of blood.
The fate of the hostages is another important fact in the background of the visits, despite the fact that the discretion on the subject is hermetic.
Curiously, the Israeli Government has discreetly rejected the request of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, a Jew and one of the first and most forceful critics of Hamas terrorism, to visit Israel. The unofficial argument is that “it is not the right time”, according to what has been leaked to the press. Russia has bases and fleets in Syria and Syria has influence in Lebanon, its northern neighbor.
