Senator Lindsey Graham was very direct: “It’s pathetic. How far Western Europe has fallen. To our European allies: you have softened up pathetically and lost your enthusiasm for confronting evil, apparently unless it’s on your doorstep. What a shame."
Graham is wrong: not even on our doorstep.
Countries like Spain were “reluctant partners" even in the coalition against ISIS, which filled our doorsteps with corpses.
Because, as Michel Houellebecq put it from Jerusalem, “we Westerners have lost the will to live and I fear that not even a war would awaken us."
Here we are in yet another war.
Donald Trump is furious over British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to support America with Britain’s resources (“he is not Churchill," he said). But Britain is not alone on the Old Continent, particularly in Western Europe.
A few hours after the attacks on Iran began, Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared on X: “We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel." Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had an easy time accusing the Spanish government of “siding with Iran." And Iran thanked Spain.
Shortly after the 2004 jihadist attacks, which pushed Madrid to withdraw troops from Iraq, the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero won the elections.
CNN released documents detailing Al Qaeda’s objectives in the war against the West: “We think that the Spanish government will not withstand two attacks, three at most. And even in that case, the victory of the Socialist Party will be guaranteed and the withdrawal of Spanish troops will be its campaign manifesto."
After Atocha, the terrorists announced: “We are suspending military operations in the land of Al Andalus until we know the orientation of the new socialist government (which would take office in a few days, editor’s note), which has promised the withdrawal of the Spanish army from Iraq." Romano Prodi immediately made clear which way the wind was blowing: “It is clear that the use of force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists."
Emmanuel Macron is worried about “escalation" in Iran and has his foreign minister call China (China, which buys all of Iran’s oil). His concern is shared by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who said she was “deeply concerned" about the attack and urged all parties to “exercise maximum restraint."
They sound like the pleas of a terminal patient. Europe appears devoid of the will to exist as a geopolitical actor.
Now let us try to imagine what Trump thinks of these Europeans who are always crying about the “NATO crisis" or the White House’s lack of enthusiasm in defending Europe.
Europe? There is the largest war in the Middle East in 20 years and Europe is less present than a small Arab grand duchy.
“Comfortable in ritually denouncing the ‘reactionary international,’ represented by the Trump-Netanyahu duo, Macron never says a word about the Islamist international, openly protected by La France Insoumise," writes Ivan Rioufol. “Yet this existential threat is far more dangerous for France."
It is estimated that there are 46 million Muslims in Europe, 6 percent of the total population. Despite countless mass demonstrations for the Palestinian Arabs in Western European cities from 2023 to today, street protests in support of the Iranians have been negligible. Just a few sit-ins by the Iranian diaspora. Why?
For the same reason European governments are reluctant to support the American-and Israeli-led attacks against Iran: because they fear the conflict could spill into their streets.
Prime Minister Starmer hosted hundreds of Muslims for the end-of-Ramadan ceremony in historic Westminster Hall: “We did not participate in the attack against Iran, so please do not hate us! Moreover, we recognize Gaza and Palestine!"
It is not only street protests that worry European governments; it is the prospect of terrorist attacks.
From 1985 to 1986, a series of terrorist attacks in Paris were carried out by Iranian agents, who were also responsible for attacks in Spain, including at the El Descanso restaurant in Madrid, where they killed 18 people.
Where did the terrorist who killed the Iraqi Christian refugee Salwan Momika in Sweden flee? To Iran, of course.
Take Shahid Butt, a convicted terrorist who planned to attack the British consulate in Yemen and an Anglican church.
He is now running in Birmingham, in a constituency that is 91 percent ethnic minorities and 70 percent Muslim.
He will probably win.
A convicted Islamic terrorist has a strong chance of being elected to public office in Britain.
This is why Europeans are terrified of fighting this war. Because they already have it at home.
In 1989, when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, thousands of Muslims took to the streets in Britain and France calling for the writer’s death. When Khomeini launched the fatwa against Rushdie, Polish dissident Adam Michnik wrote: “A world in which a fanatic who rules Iran can pay assassins all over the world is a world in which no one is safe."
Exactly twenty years ago, Rushdie asked the European Union to suspend relations with Iran.
Europe instead reacted like a rabbit dazzled by the headlights of this new Islamic extremism.
Nothing has changed. Let them not cloak their refusal to take part in this historic moment with appeals to “international law," “diplomacy," “prudence," and “peace." It is nothing but this: fear disguised as noble words.
This is not about Iran. It is about us, Europeans. And the fact that we are old, terrified, increasingly useless and increasingly submissive.