‘The battleground is Palestine’: Israel’s war looms over European elections

Elections for the European Parliament traditionally focus on issues such as the cost of living, farm policies, climate change and the European Union’s migration policy.

But as the continent prepared for this week’s critical votes, a new topic surged to the forefront – Palestine.

How EU politicians are addressing Israel’s war on Gaza, violence in the occupied West Bank and the future of Palestine has become a central theme driving political discourse and voters’ choices in the 27-nation bloc.

“Personally, I perceive it [Palestine] as a crucial factor that allows voters to see the true colours of the parties they support,” said Maruska, ​​who has Slovene-Italian roots and will be voting in this year’s EU elections for the first time.

“I will be voting from Germany, and there is only one party who is vocal about the cause – MeRA25,” she added, referring to the leftist, pro-Palestine European political group.

For Thomas Maddens, a filmmaker and activist based in Belgium, Palestine is a subject of colonial dynamics that he said politicians in Europe should address in light of the continent’s history.

“For me, if you can’t get it right on Palestine, I’m not going to vote for you,” he told Al Jazeera.

About 373 million people are eligible to vote in the elections being held from Thursday to Sunday. They will elect 720 members of the European Parliament. Besides playing a crucial role in shaping EU policies, these lawmakers also elect the bloc’s top leaders, such as the foreign policy chief and president of the European Commission.

Marc Botenga of Belgium’s leftist Workers’ Party and an EU lawmaker campaigning to hold his seat, said: “While travelling around the country to campaign, I’ve seen people talking about classic election topics like purchasing power, climate change and migration. But this year, discussions over Palestine has been a central topic.”

He added: “I think EU citizens have seen how establishment politicians really like to speak about Ukraine and say how much the bloc really needs to support Ukraine, give them weapons and money to win the war. But then with Palestine, there has been a degree of hypocrisy and double standards. People want this to end. So how politicians address Palestine will influence the European elections.”

“Many people want their EU leaders to stop supporting the genocide in Gaza as well as the possibility to vote for a truly international option that represents not only people from one country but from everywhere,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We are a pro-Palestine party, and in Germany, we have seen a lot of pushback from basically all the major parties, starting from the Palestine Congress to our Free Palestine posters that are constantly torn down and even burned. But we are not giving up.”

“It’s quite unusual to have civil servants protesting like this,” an EU official told Al Jazeera. “But the sickening horror of what Israel is doing in Palestine is difficult to ignore.”

The conflict, as well as the recognition of Palestine as a state, have become something of a litmus test for the European elections, according to a European Parliament staff member.

“Candidates who talk about human rights and climate justice in their campaigns but remain silent on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza reveal inconsistencies in their political agenda and prove we [the EU] are still far from addressing intersectionality of social, civic and environmental rights,” the staffer told Al Jazeera.

“Ukraine was an easy moral win for centrist European politicians. They were happy criticising the war crimes of a belligerent neighbouring power when it was Russia. But when it was Israel killing civilians, suddenly they couldn’t find their voice,” another EU official said.

“Europeans find themselves better represented by Macklemore than the European Commission.”

At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 wounded in Gaza since October 7 in Israel’s assault, by far its deadliest war on the enclave.

The campaign began after Hamas, which governs Gaza, sharply escalated the historic conflict by launching incursions into southern Israel during which 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 were taken captive.

The European Parliament has called for “an unconditional ceasefire” and for Israel to open all humanitarian aid crossings into Gaza.

Meanwhile, EU members Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have announced their decisions to recognise Palestine as a state.

“Post the elections, I don’t think it’s going to be a case of ‘I’m Israel, you’re Palestine’, but rather politicians who are in favour of international law vs those who are willing to defend a genocide,” the diplomat added.

EU lawmakers currently sit in the parliament as seven political groups – the S&D, European People’s Party (EPP), Renew Europe, Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA), European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Identity and Democracy (ID) and The Left.

According to Hussein Baoumi, foreign policy advocate at Amnesty International, politicians from left-leaning parties have been vocal about Palestine in election campaigns.

Meanwhile, EU lawmakers from right-leaning political groups have taken either a cautious stance or refrained from commenting on the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“If you look at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s campaign video, it is clear that she is trying to distance herself from the war in Gaza and hasn’t posted any pictures from her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials,” he told Al Jazeera.

“However for voters in the continent, while the Palestine factor is important, domestic issues like cost of living and Russia’s war in Ukraine are more urgent. The war in Gaza will neither make nor break the European elections,” Baoumi predicted.

But for Marco, a voter in Belgium, “Europe’s legitimacy and credibility is at stake.”