Allies Still?

Richard Baehr summarizes why Europe has abandoned Israel. So why are the Europeans so hostile to Israel, and so sympathetic to the Palestinians?

There are a number of factors that explain European behavior towards Israel. I have identified seven of them:

Europe's dependence on Middle East oil
Europe's rivalry with the US
The growing number of Muslims and their militancy
The small number of Jews, and their passivity
The role of elites in Europe's politics
Europe's long term disease of anti-Semitism, and
The decline of Christianity in Europe.

In the process, it clarifies why Europe (with a few exceptions, most notably Britain) can not be considered an Allie of the United States. For the most part, Europe and the US do not have similar national interests. This discrepancy was most evident during the run up to the Iraq War.

Part of the resistance to American efforts may have been honest disagreement about the results of continued inspections, and hence the wisdom of going to war over WMDs. But a far greater part, especially in the case of France was designed to spite the US, and interfere with America's projection of power abroad. A final factor of course was money- the spoils for France, and Russia and Germany from the oil for food scandal, the largest financial scandal in the world's history, but reported in this country almost entirely on just one channel (FNC), and in one newspaper - the Wall Street Journal.