The piece contends that three years of Israel’s retaliatory war after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks - which it says has killed over 74,000 Palestinians and devastated Gaza - have reshaped European politics by exposing hypocrisy and weakening democratic norms. Europe’s refusal to impose collective measures on Israel while sanctioning Russia is presented as a glaring double standard that has cost credibility. Public life has been affected: peaceful pro‑Palestine protests face heavy policing and criminalisation, dissent has been narrowed, and institutions that should protect equality are under strain, undermining trust in democratic governments and fuelling social polarisation.
Those strains have sharpened into rising Islamophobia and institutional suspicion of Muslim civic life. Centre‑right EU bodies backed resolutions this year targeting “political Islam” and casting doubt on Muslim organisations’ loyalties; a pan‑European Muslim network describes a double bind between accusations of separatism and conspiratorial loyalty claims. Meanwhile the European Network Against Racism has lost commission funding and is mounting a legal challenge. Still, cross‑societal solidarity - from trade unions, Jewish activists and EU staff vigils to appeals from former diplomats - offers some counterbalance, but the broader warning is that freedoms erode when some voices and suffering are repeatedly ignored.
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