Published on Jul 5, 2026, filed under politics. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)

Israel, the United States, and their staunchest supporters and defenders in Europe (notably Germany, France, Italy, and England) act as if everyone were with them in their wars on Palestine and other Islamic countries, and their fight against those who stand up for Palestinians and Muslims (e.g., Palestine Action).

But even if you have no idea about the history of the countries and people under attack (whose histories, really, are instructive to read up on)—Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians, Yemenis, Syrians, Iraqis—you can tell something is off.

The Signs Are All There

Take only the following initiatives, headlines, or quotes:

• “The majority of Germans [55%] support EU sanctions on Israel to stop genocide in Gaza”
• “80% of Spaniards believe that Europe should follow Spain’s example and officially recognize the State of Palestine”; “support for EU sanctions against Israel has risen from 67% to 70%”
• 58% of Dutch “want the government to be more critical of Israel and take more action against the country”
• “A majority of Britons oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza (55%)”
• “86% of Irish people […] believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, with a consistent 70%+ supporting strong economic sanctions against Israel”
• About 1.2 million Europeans (and counting) have signed a petition to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement

What does this suggest?

Europeans Aren’t Buying It

The European public, as a whole, is not being deceived by hasbara—and neither supports the genocide on Palestinians nor the wars on Islamic countries.

While I can attest from personal experience that ignorance and hasbara work—not a few Europeans do believe in the righteousness of Israel’s colonization of the Middle East—, there are many millions who know enough history and employ enough critical thinking to understand that Israel’s colonization of Palestine and their war on Islam didn’t just start yesterday.

Europeans also fully understand that Israel has genocidal intent.

This leads to a fundamental problem:

European Leadership Is Misrepresenting Europeans—and Undermining Itself

If the European public sees and rejects the crimes the Israelis and the Americans are committing, and the governments of European member states ignore the facts and the sentiments, the people are being ignored.

While such ignoring may at times be necessary, doing so over something as fundamental and as prolonged as continued genocidal wars on other countries seems dangerous for any democracy:

At the end of the day, a democracy—the reign of the people—only works if the people’s will is respected.

What the major countries in Europe are doing is dismissing, even—as with anti-pro-Palestine action in England and Germany—using twisted, hateful logic to punish people for their support for human rights.

This cannot go well:

Unless our political leadership in Europe starts recognizing the facts of Israel’s colonial, genocidal wars against Palestine and other Islamic countries, and embraces the human-rights charter and international law to take action against Israeli and American wars and genocides, it will undermine itself.

While we have another problem in Europe in that few parties are yet positioning themselves clearly enough against these crimes, eventually people will seek parties that do so.

Personally, I believe that most everything we observe around us today is profoundly bad for us. We destroy our planet; we kill each other; and, worse, we do not speak and share truth (which is worse because it prevents us from stopping said destruction and killing).

No one can be healthy or safe in an environment like this for long.

In hierarchical societies like ours, leadership has the most leverage. This is what makes for their responsibility—and this responsibility is what few leaders are living up to these days.

Now, as Europeans, we are not (or not anymore) in the business of changing the leadership of other countries, like Israel or the United States feel they are. But we don’t have to be as extreme and undemocratic as that: We can always hold our own leadership to account. When it comes to Europe tolerating if not supporting Israeli and American wars and genocides, we need to decide when it’s finally time to do so.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies, including Google; I’m an open-source developer and a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG); and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback—interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)