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European leaders, who like to tout a rules-based global order and seemingly promote strategic autonomy, have been caught on the wrong side after Israel and the United States launched unprovoked "pre-emptive" strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Instead of condemning Israel's attacks, which began on June 13, and the assassinations of top Iranian generals, European Union leaders from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized on X(formerly Twitter) Israel's right to defend itself, turning a blind eye to Israel's actions that have violated international law.

Actually there are no reasons for the EU leaders to believe Iran, or Palestine, have no right to self-defense. If this is not racism, what is?

EU leaders sent similar messages after the US bombed the Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan on June 22.

The attacks are blatant violations of the United Nations Charter and the rules of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency which could cause disastrous radioactive leaks. And reports are emerging that some leaks have been detected.

That is why UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the US a "dangerous escalation" and "a direct threat to international peace and security". And that is why former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, now co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said on X: "I don't want to hear any EU statement that the US has the right to defend itself. This is a clearcut violation of international law."

In another tweet, Bildt said that the joint statement by the United Kingdom, France and Germany "was remarkable for ignoring the subject" and undermining "their position" on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Bildt and I have followed each other on X and have had some interactions. I do not agree with him often but I applaud his message.

EU leaders should have taken an impartial stance on the unprovoked Israeli and US attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities as well as Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip, which have caused a humanitarian crisis. That Israeli assaults have killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, a majority of them children and women, and wounded over 131,000 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, is of little concern to Western leaders. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza keeps unfolding on TV screens while Western leaders go about their business as usual.

If such unprovoked bombings of Iranian nuclear facilities are part of the rules-based global order touted by the West, then countries around the world could start carrying out such strikes against other countries and push the world closer to doomsday.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is the worst of the lot, for he claims the US bombings don't violate international laws, a stance that many US foreign policy experts disagree with. Rutte's remarks, in which US President Donald Trump said he referred to the president as "daddy", on Wednesday, reflect Western leaders' attempt to please Trump in the hope he will exempt their countries from his tough tariffs. Though Rutte denied it later, such flattery was obvious.

Rutte also praised Trump for pushing EU states to hike their military budget to 5 percent of their GDP, which would benefit the US' military industrial complex. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, only five countries spent more than 5 percent of their GDP on the military in 2024, with Ukraine topping the list with 34 percent, followed by Israel (8.8 percent), Algeria (8 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.3 percent) and Russia (7.1 percent).

Does NATO really want to start an arms race around the world, and prompt all countries to spend 5 percent of their GDP on weapons? That would jeopardize the global security order, forcing EU countries to spend much more on weapons instead of upgrading their infrastructure, sustaining their welfare societies and expediting their green transition.

The call to spend more on weapons is an extremely dangerous threat to the entire human race.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn