Condemnation across Europe after Israel raid on Freedom Flotilla

European official and public reaction to an Israeli raid that killed at least 9 members of the self-styled "Freedom Flotilla" bound for Gaza on Monday has been uniformly condemnatory.

European publics had, to some extent, viewed Israel with more sympathy in recent years, reflecting their own fears of Arabs and Muslims since the 9/11 attacks on the US. But that small shift towards Israel seems to be over.

“For some time there has been a new kind of tolerance for Israel here. But Israel is coming to the end of this; it has over-exploited the sympathy,” says Dominique Moisi of the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations, who was in Israel yesterday. “There is a growing rift between Israel and the rest … part of a process of Israel’s self-isolation.”

IN PICTURES: The Gaza flotilla and the aftermath of the Israeli naval raid

Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron criticize Israel

In the past day German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for end of Israel's Gaza blockade, British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Israel to listen to its critics, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack a “disproportionate use of force.”

Israel's killing of the activists on international aid flotilla came after Israeli commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto one of the ships. The assault on the ship, which was in international waters, followed a string of recent events that have damaged Israel's image in Europe.

The Israeli blockade, which had been quietly supported by Egypt until Tuesday, was instituted in 2007 in response to Hamas's violent take-over of the coastal territory. It tightened in the wake of the 2008-09 Gaza war aimed at stopping Hamas rocket fire, a three-week offensive in which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The blockade has led to shortages of food, medicine, and construction materials in the strip, where unemployment is now about 40 percent.

Many in Europe backed the September 2009 Goldstone report, which detailed what it said was evidence of possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Any clout?

Yet whether European states have any clout with Israel is questionable.

European officials have stridently opposed Israeli settlement expansion that continues to create “facts on the ground” in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Most economic and peace initiatives between Europe and Israel have been dormant since the Gaza war.

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