JTA - 02.17.2004

Jewish group stepping in to help mend U.S.-Europe rift

By Philip Carmel 

BRUSSELS (JTA) — On many issues, the Bush administration and European governments do not speak the same language.

Now, an American Jewish group is offering to translate between the two sides. 

Last week, the American Jewish Committee launched its Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute to strengthen bilateral relations between the powers — and benefit Jews in the process.

The creation of the institute, the first think tank of its kind run by a non-governmental organization in Brussels, comes as the European Union is set to expand to 25 countries later this year.

But the institute’s creation also underscores the sentiment that the European Union and the United States increasingly are acting as competitors. 

Soured relations peaked during the lead-up to the war in Iraq, when many European governments, notably France and Germany, opposed U.S. military intervention. 

As mass demonstrations across the continent against the war have shown, those differences have mirrored other differences over U.S. policy toward the Middle East in general, and toward Israel in particular. 

At the same time, anti-Semitism in Europe has increased noticeably since the start of the Palestinian intifada in the fall of 2000. 

According to the AJCommittee’s international relations director, Jason Isaacson, the group “recognizes that a long-distance relationship between the organization and European government institutions is not in the best interests of Jewish concerns.” 

“We have to be on the ground where European decisions are being made,” Isaacson told JTA. 

Some of those decisions — particularly where they concern Israel and anti-Semitism — mirror similar views expressed by leading U.S. diplomats in Europe. 

Speaking at the institute’s inaugural dinner last week in Brussels, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, said, “Europeans need to resist creating a united Europe in competition or as a counterweight to the United States.”

His remark reflects U.S. concerns that the European Union represents a threat to NATO in formulating and implementing global security and foreign policy.

The AJCommittee, too, is worried by any threats to NATO control over defense policy in Europe, particularly since NATO’s line is dominated by the United States, which is more pro-Israel than Europe.

David Harris, AJCommittee’s executive director, said, “NATO must remain a vital collective security post.”

Explaining the importance of the new Transatlantic organization, Harris said the AJCommittee had for “decades been a trailblazer in building bridges between the United States and Europe.” Therefore, “when cracks in the foundation have been revealed and younger people in particular question the ties that bind us, the work of bridge-building becomes more important.”

Indeed, as many Jewish leaders in Europe note, the AJCommittee generally has avoided the kind of public spats that have become almost the norm between leading U.S.-based Jewish organizations and the European Union. 

Those relations hit a new low last month when the leaders of the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish Congress accused the European Commission of anti-Semitism.

The Transatlantic Institute’s inaugural meeting, which included senior politicians and diplomats from both the United States and Europe, showed that the AJCommittee has its work cut out for it.

“There is one issue that we can work on together,” U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Rockwell Schnabel, told the gathering, pointing to anti-Semitism in Europe, which he said is reaching levels not seen since the 1930s. 

E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana agreed that anti-Semitism in Europe was a very real problem, saying, “The burning of synagogues and the physical and verbal abuse of Jews in the street are absolutely unacceptable.” 

But Solana said it is wrong to blame the institutions of the European Union for anti-Semitism. 

“Acts and expressions of anti-Semitism within the European Union are not acts of anti-Semitism by the European Union,” Solana said. “The policies of the European Union are neither anti-Semitic nor anti-Israeli.” 

Schnabel also pointed out differences between the European Union and the U.S. administration over policy toward Israel. He said the United States would maintain its policy of boycotting Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and “encourage the E.U. to do the same.” 

However, Schnabel said he believes relations between the European Union and the United States are improving.

Solana said the shared values of democracy and freedom would continue to provide the basis of transatlantic cooperation — and that they also are the bonds that link America, Europe and Israel.

It is therefore natural that AJCommittee is becoming involved in the E.U.-U.S. relationship.

“U.S. Jewish ideals bind Europe and the U.S. in a daily conversation, and we need to be in that conversation,” Isaacson said.