An "increasingly close political understanding" is emerging between the Israel and the European Union, even as massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations, sometimes tinged with anti-Semitism, sweep Europe, according to the JTA news service.
Israel received an upgrade last month to its official relationship with the European Union. The upgrade means Israel will be at the table as an observer during EU political deliberations.
This improved status will give Israel added political clout and economic benefits.
European diplomats told JTA that the improvement had come in part to "a charm offensive" by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
According to this analysis, the new relationship "may have softened Europe's official rhetoric toward Israel" when it began bombing Gaza on December 27. The initial EU rhetoric at the start of the Gaza conflict put the blame squarely on Hamas. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by phone that the responsibility for the conflict lies "clearly and exclusively" with Hamas. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, representing the European Union, emphasized that Israel had a right to defend itself, whereas ''Hamas has excluded itself from serious political dialog."
According to Robin Shepherd, a senior research fellow at the London-based Chatham House, "Israeli public diplomacy in advance of the assault was well prepared." Livni's rapport with French President Sarkozy and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on trip to Paris December 31 was "unusually warm, with smiles and kisses even as she said there would be no cessation of bombing."
Tzvi Tal, the deputy Israeli ambassador to the European Union, worried that if anti-Semitic violence in Europe escalates, the political progress Israel and Europe have made could come undone. "In that case," he said, "it would be hard to convince the average Israeli that the European attitude has changed for the better."