JERUSALEM (EJP)--- Manfred Gerstenfeld, an international business strategist and editor of the Jewish political studies review, has released his latest book entitled ‘European-Israeli Relations: Between Confusion and Change?’
The book is a series of interviews with 15 prominent experts on the Israeli-European relationship which prompts the question “Is Europe really ahead of Israel, or are the problems of Israel and its coping with them ahead of the problems of Europe? Who can learn from who?”
Gerstenfeld was born in Vienna, grew up in Amsterdam and moved to Israel with his family in 1968 from Paris. He is a chemist and economist by training, holds a Ph.D. in environmental studies and has a teacher training degree in Judaism from the Dutch Jewish Seminary.
European Jewish Press spoke to him in Jerusalem.
EJP: Your first book on European-Israeli relations, published in 2005,
was subtitled ‘An Expanding Abyss’. The current book is subtitled ‘Between Confusion and Change?’. What has changed in the two years between the books?
Manfred Gerstenfeld: The previous book asked whether the political abyss between Europe and Israel would continue to expand. On the one hand, Israel and Europe had reasonable relations in areas such as trade, tourism, culture, research and sport; on the other hand Europe was often politically hostile to Israel. According to the EU’s own standards in its EUMC Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, many leading European politicians are anti-Semitic. The gap seemed to widen also due to a certain arrogance on the European side, that they knew what is best for Israel. Two things have happened since the first book that has stifled the arrogance of the Europeans. The first is the rejection of the European Constitution and the halting of greater European unification and the second is the greater awareness of the problems with certain parts of the Muslim immigrant population.
EJP: The book is co-published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. What is the significance of this?
MG: The Konrad Adenauer Foundation has a long history of working with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Jointly we held two conferences on the issue of European-Israeli relations, and were surprised to learn that there were few books on the subject. The Adenauer Foundation saw the potential to enlarge the issues to take a ‘snapshot’ of where relations between Israel and Europe are at. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s goals are to advance Israeli-European relations and foster understanding.
EJP: Some interviewees make some very strong comments about the European mindset, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim immigration and multiculturalism in Holland. How does this affect European relations with Israel?
MG: It gives some additional insight into European-Israeli relations. Hirsi Ali points out that Israel has coped far better than The Netherlands with immigration. She concludes that the reason Israel is more successful with immigration is because all the people who came to Israel had something in common. In The Netherlands, that is not the case and that leads to the question that I ask - Is Europe really ahead of Israel, or are the problems of Israel and its coping with them ahead of the problems of Europe? Who can learn from who?
EJP: Former Head of the Mossad and Ambassador to the EU, Efraim Halevy provides some very interesting insider information about EU payments directly to Yasser Arafat. Can you expand on that?
MG: Halevy explains in more detail something he mentions in his own book. He recalls meeting with Manuel Marin, who was then vice-President of the European Commission, when Marin received a call from the German Foreign Minister. The German minister complained that $25 million, which Arafat got as ‘special emergency funding’ had been transferred to a general account and should have gone to Arafat’s private one. Halevy also recalls that Marin unburdened himself and expressed exasperation at the way he was being forced to cooperate in these matters.
EJP: Rijk Van Dam, former MEP and until recently Director of the European Coalition for Israel, described Geneva as a “Metropolis of Evil”. What do you think he meant by that?
MG: Van Dam considers that Geneva has become a place where major inversion of the truth takes place. The UN Commission on Human Rights, based in Geneva, is according to what human rights activist Irwin Cotler, the former Canadian Foreign Minister once told me “on the way to be converted to a body that violates the UN Charter under the guise of Human Rights.” Van Dam is furthermore very critical of the World Council of Churches also based in Geneva. If you only single out Israel on human rights matters and ignore other nations’ far worse transgressions you become an accomplice of people with genocidal and racial aims in their program.
EJP: Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the EU, states that the trade between Israel and Europe influences the EU’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Do you believe this to be the case?
MG: Some agree with his point of view, others observe a certain schizophrenia in Europe where they see politics as totally separate from other considerations. Dr. Rory Miller, who discusses Ireland in the book holds the latter point of view.
EJP: Finally, which countries in Europe do you see as the most hostile to Israel, and have you seen any changes?
MG: Today the most hostile EU countries to Israel are Ireland, Spain and France. There have been changes; the Socialist Swedish government was very hostile to Israel but recently a conservative-led government has come to power. In the other direction, the Italian government under Berlusconi was very pro-Israel but the one under Romano Prodi, who has just resigned, has become significantly less so, although not one of the most hostile.