BRUSSELS, 4 November 2003 — Europeans believe Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace, just ahead of the United States which is joint second with North Korea and Iran, according to an EU poll released yesterday. The poll sparked Israeli outrage.
The result was part of a survey on Europeans’ attitudes in the aftermath of the Iraq War, which also found notably that more than two-thirds of Europeans think that the US-led war was not justified.
The European Commission acknowledged that Israel’s anger was “legitimate,” but otherwise refused further comment, beyond stating that EU policies were not affected by such poll findings.
“I think the reaction was a very legitimate reaction,” said spokesman Gerassimos Thomas presenting the results in Brussels. But he added: “It is not our task to interpret each and every survey.”
“We don’t place excessive emphasis on one poll result,” he added.
According to the Eurobarometer poll, based on interviews with 500 people in each of the 15 EU states, some 59 percent of Europeans replied “yes” when asked whether or not Israel presents a threat to peace in the world.
A total of 53 percent said Iran, North Korea and the United States pose a threat, followed by 52 percent for Iraq, 50 percent for Afghanistan and 48 percent for Pakistan.
After that came Syria with 37 percent; Libya (36 percent); China (30 percent); India (22 percent); Russia (21 percent); Somalia (16 percent) and the EU itself (8 percent).
In a country-by-country breakdown of which countries were concerned about Israel, the Netherlands were most worried on 74 percent, while Italians were the least on 48 percent.
On the United States, Greece was the most alarmed: Eighty-eight percent of Greeks said the US poses the biggest threat to world peace, while at the other end of the scale only 43 percent of Italians were concerned.
Israel reacted to the poll even before it was formally released, after the Spanish daily El Pais published leaked details from it last week, saying it was proof that anti-Semitism lay behind political criticism of Israel.
The Israeli ambassador to Italy — which currently holds the EU presidency — said in an interview with the daily Il Messagero yesterday that the poll could have significant diplomatic consequences.
“It seems to me that the only aim of this poll was to denigrate Israel at a very delicate time, and I think it will be much more difficult for Europe to fulfill its ambition to play a part in the peace process,” said Ehud Gol.
The Brussels commission rebuffed that suggestion. “Our partners feel very comfortable with the European Union and the commission policy regarding Iraq, regarding the Middle East peace process. We have trust,” said the EU executive’s spokesman.
