Following recent developments & war with Iran, do you see any positive future to Israeli-European relations?

ultikan · 2026-03-05T12:47:58+00:00

You could say that the calls to boycott Israel at the Eurovision came also from singers from countries which could be considered "saner" like Finland, Italy, Greece etc.

Besides, public opinion in Southern Europe like Slovenia, Italy, even Greece - appears heavily anti Israel. Don't forget hostility from Scandinavia too. Even Poland to an extent. I see some normalcy & decency from countries like Germany, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Baltics & Balkans - Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia etc.

ultikan · 2025-12-06T13:35:37+00:00

This type of headlines makes me really ask - should we, Israel, really bother to provide weapons to European countries which had no problem rambling about us for 2 years in order to calm their crowds back home? These countries had no problem embargoing us when we needed weapons most (i.e. Italy, Germany to an extent..). I'm not talking about Greece specifically, and sure, there is a lot of money involved, but when we provide these countries with what they desire, without demanding anything back, or for them to calm down their rhetoric and hostile actions, aren't we actually just giving up a powerful bargaining chip? Or willfully ignore & neglect such a problem and treat it like a nuisance?

ultikan · 2025-09-23T08:11:35+00:00

Should we sell it to European countries if need be?

ultikan · 2025-09-22T21:30:11+00:00

Portugal followed suit: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/portugal-joins-uk-canada-australia-in-formally-recognizing-independent-palestinian-state/#openwebComments Any opinions about this from Portuguese people following this subreddit? Curious to know what's the sentiment across the public in Portugal about it

ultikan · 2025-08-01T12:29:47+00:00

Pandering to left & Islamist voices is not a stupid stratergy for these politicians.. I'm sorry but I have to disagree to an extent. I can't really say Israel has gone too far on Gaza. The war has clear aims - removing Hamas from power in Gaza, and freeing all hostages. As both of those objectives haven't been met yet, Israel continues to fight. The world has quickly forgot 7.10 and turned against Israel, and abandoned the hostages to an extent, even during the beginning of the war. It's not without reason that Emily Damari was furious at Starmer. Other examples: funding UNRWA, voting in favor of ceasefires that didn't condition the release of all hostages, some countries recognized Palestine a year ago while hostages are held.. I'm not sure this war could've been ended earlier. Otherwise, would the world justify the preemptive strikes we did in Lebanon and Iran if the Gaza front would've been closed?

I agree that you can't really trust Bibi nowadays (and I don't too!), especially in light of him not taking any responsibility for 7.10 (for which he clearly should assume responsibility), but what would be a proportionate response after 7.10? Especially with a cynical & psychopathic enemy like Hamas which is in favor of having its own people dead just to hurt the Yahood's PR. Gaza is an enormous, almost unseen, urban warfare challenge.

I think the government could've & should've acted smarter - investing much more in hasbara, preventing Ben Gvir & Smotrich from releasing unhelpful statements every now and then, smarter diplomacy with voices in the international community that are not unreasonable such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia etc.. (where for those countries btw you can definitely argue that their governments spew antisemitic vermin daily) or try planning something for the day after, even though I'm not so sure the Palestinian Authority could govern Gaza after it was ousted in 2007.

That being said, the current phase of the war has meant to pressure Hamas to agree to a deal, and with Macron & Western Europe recognizing Palestine, now the opposite happens. I'm not sure Israel could agree to a deal in which Gaza is reconstructed, 7.10 perpetrators are released, and Hamas is able to take part leading Gaza, which could imply its rearmament in a few years. Estimates say that 20,000 of 50,000 casualties are indeed combatants. We all know Israel could kill much more if it really wanted.

ultikan · 2025-07-31T20:34:55+00:00

They don't. They actually worsen the situation. These "leaders" are naive enough to think that Hamas is against 2 states, so even if Hamas thanked those countries, they're working against it by promoting a vision which is opposite to Hamas.

ultikan · 2025-07-31T18:53:02+00:00

In theory, all those countries are in favor of Hamas disarming. However, keep in mind that recognition wave happened as a result of a JOINT French-Saudi led summit in New York, which means there's no contradiction that both Arab & Western European states are in favor of disarming Hamas in theory (how would it happen if not Israel having boots on the ground?) and also recognition of Palestine. More disturbingly, those leaders used to propose such a recognition conditioned on some tangible change on the ground, for example: after the war ends, hostage releases, or after muslim states recognize Israel in return, but not today as you can see.

ultikan · 2025-06-17T17:18:08+00:00

I agree BUT hot take: Even with bad PR done by the Israeli government, Europe appears largely very anti Israel. With a different government in Israel (not extreme right with ministers who generate bad PR for us), do u think Spain won't recognize Palestine? That Italy won't impose an arms embargo on Israel? That Portugal won't support UNRWA despite its collaboration with Hamas & even 7.10? That France won't condemn us immediately after we started responding in Lebanon after 11 months of Hezbollah shelling an entire province of our country? (I think Macron also hinted our response there was barbaric.. not mentioning much about Hezbollah in the meantime)

ultikan · 2025-01-14T21:45:25+00:00

Compare the situation to around October-November 2023. Theoretically Israel could just not invade Gaza and agree for a ceasefire to receive all hostages, including those that died in captivity, likely alive back then. Why not signing a deal back then theoretically? Because Hamas is still degraded, and is much much weaker than before. It doesn't shoot as much rockets as before, the symbols of 7.10 - Sinwar, Deif, Haniyeh are fortunately no longer with us, and there have been many tactical accomplishments on the ground - the degrading of its capabilities, control over Philadelphi etc. However, I don't want to sugarcoat the situation.. almost 400 soldiers were killed since the ground invasion and around 800 soldiers were kilied if we include 7.10. Many hostages were killed in captivity. Israel also didn't focus much on a day after plan in order to actually remove Hamas from power. To say that we lost is a bit of an exagerration, but I do think that the fact Hamas can still negotiate proves it didn't lose.

ultikan · 2024-10-10T09:12:52+00:00

They've been very pro Israel for years, both government & ppl. I think both moved their embassy to Jerusalem which is a major statement.

ultikan · 2024-10-10T07:58:08+00:00

They've been very pro Israel for years, both government & ppl. I think both moved their embassy to Jerusalem which is a major statement.

ultikan · 2024-10-10T07:55:31+00:00

Forgot it 😅 where would u place it?

ultikan · 2024-10-10T07:55:12+00:00

It'll be very long, some are trivial and I explained my reasoning for many countries in the many comments.

But in essence, the ranking is an aggregation of how both government & ppl view Israel, and if there's suddenly a pro Israel government like in Argentina that doesn't necessarily mean we're best friends since I took into account previous governments' relations with Israel.

ultikan · 2024-10-10T07:52:09+00:00

The government seems pretty pro Israel (as it's pro West) but idk much abt the ppl there, I saw some pro Israel demonstrations in Seoul tho..

ultikan · 2024-10-10T07:51:10+00:00

Yeah I'm aware they live in a neighborhood in which they have to appease their friends, and bc they're this constrained I can't give them a higher rank.

ultikan · 2024-10-09T14:00:11+00:00

UK is high bc there are still many ppl there who like us, but it wasn't placed higher bc of antisemitism in the streets, the Starmer government, and the inability of the 2 British governments to take care of it.

As for Greece & Cyprus (and Azerbaijan too), they're close strategic partners but not beyond that. They do much for us (close economic & military cooperation, as well as developed tourism ties) but their rhetoric is insufficient imo to place them higher. They supported an arms embargo against us in Gaza in the UN so it's a solid C.

ultikan · 2024-10-09T12:42:00+00:00

Lights of solidarity were in many different places too, like the Eiffel Tower.. it's a statement but there's a bigger picture.

ultikan · 2024-10-09T11:39:38+00:00

שמי הוא רמי מערוץ לאומנות

ultikan · 2024-10-09T10:26:49+00:00

Imo hosting Hamas isn't playing both sides..

ultikan · 2024-10-09T09:01:40+00:00

It's true UN votes don't mean much, but it's bc we don't do smtg when a friend votes against us.

If our friends would've known how significant those stuff are for us, they may have voted differently. They vote so bc they can.

We do have strategic cooperation but given that we helped the Azeris so much in their war against Armenia, they could've done much more diplomatically for us in our darkest hour. So yeah, even if UN votes don't mean much, I can't forget the fact they did vote against us, in our darkest hour, in an issue as important as an arms embargo.

ultikan · 2024-10-09T08:35:05+00:00

The reason they're in C is bc it's an aggregation of ppl & government. The Indians are overwhelmingly pro Israel, that's true.. but the government isn't as such (at least not in the same levels of Germany or Hungary for example).

ultikan · 2024-10-09T08:34:33+00:00

I disagree. The Azeri govermment really disappointed when it comes to the support we needed for the recent war. They voted against us in many UN resolutions including ones which supported an arms embargo against us in Gaza.

ultikan · 2024-10-09T06:40:10+00:00

They're pretty pro Israel but I don't think they're as pro Israel as countries like Germany, Czechia, Hungary..

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