Much ado about nothing

More Israeli ambassadors were summoned for reprimands in capitals throughout the world on Tuesday. Additional countries added their voices to the protest against Israel's decision to move forward with construction in the E1 area near Jerusalem in response to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' unilateral move at the U.N. But the atmosphere has become a little less hysterical, as there is a limit to how annoyed Europe can be with Israel at this time due to the more pressing events that are going on in Egypt and Syria.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague helped to calm things down when he stated that no further European sanctions against Israel are being considered. A French diplomatic source told Israel Hayom that the summoning of Israel's ambassador for a reprimand at the Foreign Ministry in Paris was France's way of expressing its protest. C'est tout.

In stark contrast to the doomsday predictions of Israeli commentators in recent days, a scan of the front pages of major Western European newspapers on Tuesday showed that the story was not getting major attention. In fact, we can give this episode the Shakespearean title "Much ado about nothing." Only in our play, there was no charm and no romance.

Leila Shahid is one of the most veteran Palestinian diplomatic representatives still active. For many years, she worked in Paris. Now, she is the Palestinian ambassador to the European Union.

On Tuesday, she was asked by the French magazine Le Point whether this was the first time that the international community had responded strongly to an announcement of Israeli settlement construction.

"You are wrong," she replied. "There is nothing new in this story. What the U.S., France and Britain said was their standard response in line with their traditional position every time Israel announces plans for new settlement construction. This is the same tune that we've been hearing for 30 years already."

Leila Shahid was worried, although no less than the Israeli media was on Tuesday.

However, it is impossible to deny a growing European tendency to accept the Palestinian narrative. This is a process that has taken place over many years. Israel was almost indifferent about the number of countries (138 out of 193) that supported granting nonmember observer state status to the Palestinians at the U.N. Israel was concerned, however, that only one European Union country (the Czech Republic) voted against the bid. France, Italy and Spain were among the countries that supported the resolution. Germany, Holland and Britain abstained from the vote. This trend in Europe is not encouraging, regardless of what happens in E1.

The world is certainly changing, but the U.S. still rules the roost. The U.S., if it wanted to, could make its European allies fall into line. The U.S. could also allow the European trend to continue, which would increase Israel's dependence on Washington.

But given the events in Syria and Egypt and the tough atmosphere in the Middle East, it can be assumed that Washington understands that it is also dependent on Israel.

Could it be that Abbas has, unintentionally, also upgraded the ties between Jerusalem and Washington?

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