Robin Shepherd in The Washington Post notes the Europeans’ ‘unhealthy fixation on Israel’:
Go to a dinner party in Paris, London or any other European capital and watch how things develop. The topic of conversation may be Iraq, it may be George Bush, it may be Islam, terrorism or weapons of mass destruction. However it starts out, you can be sure of where it will inevitably, and often irrationally, end — with a dissection of the Middle East situation and a condemnation of Israeli actions in the occupied territories. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen it. European sympathy for the Palestinians runs high, while hostility toward Israel is often palpable.
A very good overview of the situation, recognizing Europe’s post-imperialist guilt and the fact that ‘reasoned criticism [of Israel] appears to be giving way to emotional and irrational antipathy that is coloring the wider debate.’
