For three painful years, Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, in retaliation for the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023, has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, wounded thousands more and reduced most of the territory to rubble. It has changed views of Israel across the world, increased support for Palestine and raised questions about US power.

Europe’s failure to hold Israel’s government to account has cost it global credibility and influence. But I fear something even more consequential than that: Gaza is changing Europe itself.

European governments did nothing to try to stop the genocide; there have been no collective sanctions, no trade restrictions or ending of arms sales to Israel. The EU sanctions Russia over its war in Ukraine but retains almost-business-as-usual ties with Israel, a blatant double standard.

Gaza has exposed how Europe’s supposedly universal commitment to human rights is now conditional on whose suffering is recognised, whose resistance is considered legitimate and whose demands for justice are considered worthy of attention. EU policymakers are selective even in the groups of women they choose to celebrate as heroic in struggles against occupation and the children whose right to life they defend.

After these three years I am convinced that the question of Palestine has become a stress test for European democracy itself. Democratic societies can only thrive when there is space for dissent, including dissent that is uncomfortable, disruptive and politically inconvenient. Yet today, across Europe, governments – which speak up against undemocratic conduct abroad – are now unapologetic in imposing restrictions on free expression and peaceful protest at home. Police violence at pro-Palestinian demonstrations has become the norm, and those whose only crime is to speak up publicly for Palestinian rights are........

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