Members of the alliance of right-wing ECR parties in the European Parliament did the unbelievable yesterday: they arrived in Israel over the weekend and held one of the two annual conferences of the alliance, of which the Israeli Likud party is also a member.
Contrary to the EU's position that Jerusalem is "controversial" and therefore no official conferences should be held there, the alliance members decided to come to the capital and recognize it de facto – while no European country has so far moved its embassy to Jerusalem. This is an official expression of a shift to the right among some European countries, which is also leading to warming relations with Israel.
The alliance has 66 members from 14 political parties from around the world. So far, its members have managed to support quite a few resolutions in favor of Israel in the European Parliament, and the data even show that the ECR is the party that voted in favor of Israel the most.
The president of the alliance is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is known for her warm attitude toward Israel and who only a few months ago received an official request from Netanyahu to consider moving the Italian embassy to Jerusalem – and since then sources in the country claim that the request has been being considered positively.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, photo: AFP
However, it should be noted that this rapprochement is lacking – the Foreign Ministry boycotts parties that are members of the alliance and belong to the extreme right (some of which are accused of neo-Nazism), such as the Sweden Democrats and the Vox Party from Spain. Despite the cloud of suspicion surrounding some members of the parties in the alliance, in 2016 the Likud was added as a member by Eli Cohen, then director of the party's external relations department. Since then, she has been attending the annual conference, held each time in a different European capital, except for Jerusalem, which was not even in the visit program due to the official EU position.
An official source in the alliance told Israel Hayom that despite this position, it was decided to use the funds of the alliance to come to Israel, and over the weekend its members also visited the holy sites in Jerusalem. The members of the delegation were hosted by Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, on behalf of the Likud faction.
"A drop of water to extinguish the fire"
At a conference held yesterday, the secretary general of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, Antonio Giordano, revealed some of the pressures exerted on the alliance not to come to Israel: "When we decided to organize the annual event in Jerusalem, shortly after the attack that took place in April, we were asked if we were confident in this decision. Our response was emphatic: If not now, when?
"Right-wingers show solidarity with each other not when there is power to share it – which always happens with our opponents on the left – but when we have to stand with friends in need."
Gila Gamliel // Photo: Alex Kolomoisky,
Giordano also attacked the media's role in the Palestinian issue: "Israel has been subjected to the usual treatment reserved for us, right-wingers, for a very long time. The job of every conservative right now is to bring a drop of our water to the fire that lights up some of the left-wing press."
Gamliel, who spoke at the conference, said: "Those who share our belief in Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state must stand united and speak. We must actively work to preserve Jerusalem's status."
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