Europe's far-right using Israel's war on Gaza to further Islamophobia

Israel's war on Gaza has presented Europe's far-right populists with a glittering opportunity to build an anti-Muslim, white supremacist narrative.

Organisations which measure Islamophobic attacks say they have observed a definite spike in attacks against Muslims and other minority groups across Europe.

A European Union official tasked with combating Islamophobia, Marion Lalisse, says, "The hatred towards Muslims, in particular, has to do with negative stereotypes, considering Muslims as a monolithic group involved in violence. Such biases are spread across EU nations."

While far-right populism has sharply risen in recent years in Europe, an odd trend has come to the fore over the last two months. Some of Europe's far-right populist groups have grasped the moment to temporarily shelve its anti-semitism, in public at least, and to unleash unabashed attacks on Muslims in Europe.

Hungarian political scientist Peter Kreko says about the far-right, that "this sudden compassion for Jews is not genuine, .... it's more about exploiting Muslims than genuine sentiment for Israel".

Bellingcat journalist Michael Colborne says that since the start of the conflict, far-right extremists "don't know who they hate more: Muslims or Jews."

Europe's political offering

The Netherlands Geert Wilders, who is Europe's latest intellectual and political offering to the world, has renewed his call to displace millions of Palestinians to Jordan.

"We will make sure that the Netherlands will be for the Dutch people again. We will restrict the asylum tsunami and migration," Wilders, who came to power on an anti-Islam, anti-immigrant and anti-EU rhetoric, said at a Trumpesque campaign rally.

Experts suggest that the Dutch – threatened by inflation, the waning control over the EU's fast-shifting political decisions and the perceived risk of being overwhelmed by migrants – voted for Wilders in a landslide.

While Wilders is already beginning to temper his message of mass deportations of migrants and banning the Quran, evident from the moniker Geert Milders often used for him by the Dutch press, the damage has already been done. The Netherland's Muslim and other minority groups are terrified.

Far-right messaging has been on point, cleverly twisting current affairs to fit the agenda and successfully selling it to the inflation-weary people of Europe. The momentum is definitely with the populists.

Wilders is staunchly pro-Israel and has held the view of Palestinian displacement and moving the Dutch embassy to Jerusalem for many years. However 'milder' he appears to be, there is little doubt which way the Dutch government will swing when he eventually assumes office.

'Recognise your occupier'

In Germany, Arabs and Muslims have been under increasing pressure since October 7, with clampdowns on pro-Palestinian protests and officials, including President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, saying that German Arabs must "distance themselves" from Hamas.

In the State of Saxony Anhalt, which is a far-right AfD stronghold, it is now mandatory for citizenship applicants to express their support for "Israel's right to exist".

This legislation forces Palestinian applicants to recognise their occupier while the Federal State of Germany does not recognise the State of Palestine itself. Many Palestinian citizens who live in Germany are recognised as stateless citizens.

The AfD, which currently boasts over 20 percent in political opinion polls, submitted proposals in parliament to stop donations to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Those proposals were rejected, but for Germany's Palestinians, the worst is perhaps yet to come with the AfD – the second-largest opposition party – tipped to potentially form the next government in 2025 with the right-wing Christian Democrats.

Beyond political persecution, the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims has lamented the "climate of fear" around Muslims in Germany.

"We have had so many attacks on mosque communities within weeks than ever before. We have attacks on Muslims and also those who are perceived to be Muslims at a rate like never before," says Aiman Mazyek.

Victim-blaming

Even in sleepy Denmark, previously not known to be a hotbed of far-right populism, the far-right Danish People's Party has stepped up its anti-immigrant rhetoric since October 7, blaming Muslims for violent attacks, anti-Semitism and divisions in society.

Party leader Anders Vistisen, also a member of the European Parliament, said that "violent assaults, hatred of Jews, Islamist propaganda and a society in division. This is what Muslim immigration has done to Denmark".

In Italy, far-right League Party leader Matio Salvini invited criticism last year when he pledged to move the Italian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While this is against EU policy, Salvini was trying to bolster his base with basic Islamophobic policy ideas.

His party's representative in the European Parliament, Marco Zanni – also a staunch supporter of Israel – said following the Hamas attacks "that Islamist extremists had declared war on the entire West".

While Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza has killed over 20,000 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, hostilities towards Muslims across Europe continue to rise sharply.

Between Wilders, Italy's Meloni, Le Pen of France, and Germany's rising AfD, Europe's political future seems destined to be one of populism and identity politics.

Amid a flailing economy, familiarise yourself with 'Europe for Europeans' sort of sloganeering and ever louder shrieks of desperation from minority groups being victim-blamed.

Because that's the Europe of the future.