Europe’s presidents and prime ministers have shown themselves willing to make speeches condemning anti-Semitism and expressing solidarity with Jews, but at the same time they are often supportive of anti-Israel policies and declarations that only legitimize anti-Semitism. Fiamma Nirentstein comments:

Hungary and the Czech Republic made great strides against anti-Semitism by abstaining from the UN General Assembly’s 2017 vote that condemned Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A stand against anti-Semitism was [also] made by the six European member states . . . that opposed a resolution by the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell earlier this month that called for a joint European condemnation of Trump’s Middle East peace plan. Through their opposition, they opened a real discussion about Israel’s security needs and the legality of the settlements.

Anti-Semitism cannot be defeated so long as the EU continues to authorize anti-Israel incitement by making claims about the “illegality” of the settlements and presents the “Green Line” armistice demarcation as a border for two states. In this manner, the central European authority shows a refusal to protect Israel from unending and active terrorism and warfare while insisting upon an inconsistent and unfounded definition of “illegality.” The settlements are not illegal; they are disputed. They are [located in a territory that is] an essential part of the cradle of Jewish history. By completely ignoring this last point, the EU promotes instead the idea of Jewish colonialism, with collateral slaughters, genocide, apartheid—all anti-Semitic canards.

The only way to fight [anti-Semitism] is through policy action: . . . stopping the discriminatory labeling of Israeli products sold in Europe, abolishing blacklists of businesses active in the disputed territories, and [combating] the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.