How Ursula von der Leyen’s pro-Israel stance divided European Commission

At the very start of the latest Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the terrible mistake of equating her personal views with those of the 27 member countries.

Soon after Hamas launched the unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, von der Leyen unilaterally announced that ‘Europe stands with Israel’.

Soon, many from the member nations would point out to her that not only was she unelected and didn’t speak for them, but also that she was badly out of touch with the shifting realities across Europe.

Among the voices of dissent from EU members, Ireland’s was notably the loudest.

Irish member of the European Parliament Clare Daly pointedly called on von der Leyen “to go”.

“She does not speak for me, she does not speak for Ireland, she does not speak for the people of Europe,” Daly wrote on the microblogging site X, previously known as Twitter. “We stand for peace, international law and justice for the people of Palestine. It’s time for her to go.”

Ione Belarra, Spain’s Minister for Social Rights, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be brought before the International Criminal Court to be tried as a war criminal.

Under her leadership, the Commission also froze funds to Palestine immediately after the Hamas attacks but reinstated the aid following severe backlash and public chastisement.

In a rare show of protest, nearly 800 EU staff wrote a letter to von der Leyen, objecting to “unjustifiable bias” towards Israel and a failure to even mention the need for Palestinian statehood, which is the official EU policy.

And now there are a growing number of countries across the EU calling for a ceasefire, which ultimately came through with mediation by Qatar and Egypt.

The French President openly expressed disgust towards the Israeli military targetting hospitals and UN installations. The Spanish Prime Minister said that his country will recognise the State of Palestine – these are notions and ideas which have rarely got airtime previously.

Public statements by EU politicians and member countries have laid bare divisions within the bloc and clearly indicated that the bloc’s commissioners were not communicating on the issue and instead making unilateral statements based on personal beliefs and vindications.

While the bloc already suffers from economic and security policies and burgeoning divisions on how to tackle the migrant and asylum-seeker issue, von der Leyen has put yet another divide among members of the EU.

Target Türkiye

President Erdogan has been particularly vocal in calling for a ceasefire in occupied Gaza, where more than 14,000 people — most of them women and children — have been killed in indiscriminate Israeli bombardment.

“We are unmasking Israel and building significant international pressure against them...There is ample evidence for the Israeli administration to be tried at the International Criminal Court. We will do everything in our power to ensure that these crimes are punished impartially,” Erdogan had said recently.

As a parting shot, von der Leyen decided to have a go at Türkiye for its principled stance towards the Palestinian cause.

In its November 2023 report on Türkiye, von der Leyen tried to put pressure on Ankara for its stance towards Palestine, saying it “is in complete disagreement with the EU approach”.

According to the report, Türkiye is guilty of “criticising Israel’s actions in occupied Palestinian territory”.

The allegation is as absurd and dumbfounding as it reads. If Türkiye’s stance “is in complete disagreement with the EU’s approach” then perhaps the European Commission, under von der Leyen, should issue reports condemning other European member nations, other countries and almost all arms of the UN which have spoken out in favour of a ceasefire and condemned Israeli atrocities in Gaza

Türkiye responded by categorically rejecting the allegations. “It is shameful that this report highlights Türkiye’s stance against the Israeli massacre in Palestine as incompatible with the EU,” said the AK Party spokesperson Omer Celik.

Celik noted that the EU Commission, as well as leading EU states “have completely lost their authority to speak on behalf of humanitarian and universal values with their attitude in the face of the disaster in Gaza”.

“We are witnessing a strong divergence between European streets and European states”.

The last part of Celik’s statement is better informed than von der Leyen’s finger on the European pulse.

Europe is witnessing a generational divide, one where the younger generation doesn’t allow a genocide to ensue in its name to atone for crimes of the past — those crimes are at least three generations old and wearing thin on Europe’s Gen Z.

Across European capitals, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in the last few weeks in support of the Palestinian cause and to call for a ceasefire.

Von der Leyen’s ignorance has proved that she is unfit for office and her brazen one-sided stance has put her severely at odds with the European public.

While she has secretly lobbied for a second term in office, chances of her getting one seem to have gone up in smoke.