Gilad Erdan
Israel Hayom, July 31, 2025
“The battle for perception is not a secondary engagement in scope. It determines whether Israel will retain the legitimacy to defend itself in future wars.”
The recent announcements by several European countries of their intention to recognize a Palestinian state come as no surprise.
These declarations are the result of longstanding trends: the structure of the United Nations, which grants an automatic majority to Israel’s adversaries; the strengthening of a false narrative portraying Israel as an occupying and oppressive power; and the evolving political reality in Europe, where large, organized Muslim communities with electoral clout have become decisive players.
In the UK, for instance, there are now 11 Muslim mayors. This helps explain why a similar process has not taken place in the US, where such communities do not exist on the same scale.
Still, it’s important to stress that these declarations carry no real short-term consequences. The UN General Assembly has no authority to create a state, and its decisions are non-binding. Only the Security Council can do that, and a scenario in which it does so without a US veto is simply unrealistic. What we are seeing, then, is not a “diplomatic tsunami,” but rather a case of short-sighted European politicians scoring domestic points at the cost of encouraging Hamas and prolonging the war.
Yet while there may be no immediate cause for alarm, the long-term threat is far more serious. These recognitions are part of a broader global effort to entrench a dangerous narrative: that Israel is a country that occupies, violates human rights, and kills children…. [To read the full article, click here]