Hassan Tahsin

Recently the Europeans seem to have decided to rid themselves of their guilt complex over the systematic Nazi murder of some six million Jews during World War II and free themselves from the American mantle in order for the European Union to emerge as a second global superpower. It chose to do so by going back to the people.

Gallup polls were conducted to gauge public opinion through their branches in each of the EU’s 15 member countries. A number of questions were put to them, with the most important among them being: “Which country poses the greatest threat to world peace?” Among the choices offered were Israel, the US, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and a number of Arab countries.

The results overturned the balance in the European-American-Israeli relationship. For the first time and without fear, 59 percent of Europeans said that Israel was the No. 1 threat to world peace. The US came second, followed by North Korea.

Washington was furious. Israel and Zionist organizations spewed venom, putting the blame on the Gallup poll itself and accusing Europeans of resurgent anti-Semitism.

The European leadership didn’t officially accept the results of the survey, and in the face of fierce pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv entrusted Italy, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, with remedying the situation.

The Italian Foreign Ministry expressed its regret, anger and astonishment at the results and said there could be an error, and added the results of the poll did not reflect the opinion of the European Union or its policy.

In essence this means that the European leadership is not committed to the opinion of its people. Romano Prodi, the head of the European Commission, professed himself aghast that the poll was prepared by a group of technicians and not politicians. Prodi reply was not well chosen — a poll prepared by specialists is without doubt more accurate and more truthful than one prepared by politicians.

The question is: Ought the people to reflect the policy of their government or should the government reflect the opinion of the people? Since the most important principle of democracy is that power is in the hands of the people, their opinion should surely be more important than what their governments want them to think.

The crux of the matter is that Israel and the US have realized that European citizens consider them, and not the Arab countries, the greatest threat to world peace, and that it is Zionist terrorism that must be eliminated.

The arrogant power wielded by Israel and the US has driven the Europeans to vote as they did. They reject the occupation of Palestinian land, the murder of defenseless civilians, and the seizure of natural resources.

As it happens, Europeans have expressed this before, in the passionate demonstrations against Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians and the US occupation of Iraq.

The European leadership has the chance they were looking for — a chance that was handed to it by the people themselves. Will it grip that lifeline, or will it sink under US-Israeli pressure?