Published: 15 May 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Why the Netanyahus are embracing 'Christian Europe' (Haaretz)
When Yair Netanyahu recently tweeted that the "evil globalist EU" was an enemy to "all European Christian countries" he received a thrilled endorsement from Joachim Kuhs, Member of the European Parliament for the German radical right AfD. This further established his position as a hard-line member of a growing, international, radical right movement.
The angry tweets of a marginal extremist would not be worth much attention, but for the fact that Netanyahu Senior appears to share much of this agenda. So this strange situation, in which a hard right Jewish nationalist defends a vision of "Christian Europe," reflects a significant wider trend.
For rising, ethno-nationalists on the European and American radical right, the European Union symbolises everything they hate: a despised "globalism" which they see as transferring sovereignty from national communities to a liberal regime governed by international institutions.
Among the EU creations they revile most is the Schengen system of open borders, which they blame for uncontrolled migration, including recent waves from the Middle East.
Yair Netanyahu, Twitter buddy and hero of Germany's nationalist Right (Haaretz)
MATI SHEMOELOF: The battle against the 'Other' unites the son of Israel's prime minister with the anti-Semitic AfD party. It comes after his father forged alliances with patently anti-Semitic leaders
Photo: Netanyahu and son Yair in Jerusalem, January 23 (Alexei Nikolskyi/SPUTNIK/RE)
