Editorial
Something is shifting in Europe. Quietly at first, then unmistakably. The European Union’s relationship with Israel — one of the most strategically consequential alliances in the modern Middle East order — is showing cracks that no amount of diplomatic language can paper over.
The Iran war has done what decades of conflict could not: it has forced Europe’s hand. Brussels has formally condemned Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, hardly a radical voice, has called illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank what they are — de facto annexation. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, a leader of the European right, has torn up a defence cooperation pact with Tel Aviv. These are not fringe positions. These are signals from the heart of the Western alliance.
And now comes the most consequential development of all. A petition bearing over a million signatures from EU citizens has crossed the threshold that legally compels a formal review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. This is the trade framework that underpins billions in commerce and gives Israel privileged access to European markets. Its review is not symbolic. It is structural. It is the kind of move that changes calculations in boardrooms and war rooms alike.
The Association Agreement has long been Israel’s insurance policy in Europe — a guarantee that whatever happened on the ground, the economic relationship would hold. That guarantee is now in question.
What is unfolding is not an ideological rupture but a political reckoning. European publics have shifted. European leaders are following. The old formula — strategic partnership regardless of conduct — is no longer politically sustainable.
Whether Europe has the institutional will to act on its stated principles remains to be seen. But the question itself marks a turning point. Europe is asking it out loud now. That alone is historic.
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