As the website of Patriots for Europe (PfE) shows, Likud has become the first observer member of the third-largest political group in the European Parliament, founded by Viktor Orbán and led by the President of the French National Rally Jordan Bardella.
The Knesset’s conservative beacon taking an interest in the patriotic front heralded by Hungary has caused mainstream media resentment, proving the establishment fears this combination.
Now is the right time to reflect on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, PfE, and why their association is significant for the fate of our civilization.
How Likud Joined Forces with Patriots for Europe
The hussar cut is described in Balázs Orbán’s eponymous manual for Hungarian statecraft as ‘a fast, decisive, surprising, and at the same time reckless enterprise; an initiative or action that risks everything.’
There certainly was a hussar cut quality to the rapid and resolute rallying of Likud to PfE.
As reported in an 11 February 2025 article by Brussels Signal, it was ‘on 7 February, at the Patriots.eu congress in Madrid’, that ‘the Israeli right-wing party was officially and unanimously awarded observer status with the parliamentary faction effective immediately.’
The congress in question was called a ‘Grand Offensive’ in a 7 February 2025 article by The European Conservative’s Zoltán Kottász. The rallying cry of this congress was ‘Make Europe Great Again’ and that ‘the Patriots for Europe group is the third-largest in the European Parliament, consisting of 86 MEPs’. This congress was considered a landmark event in the ‘upward trajectory’ of ‘the patriotic-sovereignist parties in Europe’.
As was detailed in the previously-mentioned Brussels Signal article, ‘the Madrid summit was attended by key members of the right-wing faction including Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, France’s Marine Le Pen of National Rally, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders, head of the PVV, and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, leader of Lega’, highlighting the significance of this congress.
The remark made by the Austrian Freedom Party that ‘Likud’s accession as a further sign that the “fairy tale of international isolation” was collapsing’ is in line with the reality of Hungary’s high diplomatic standing, which is often ignored by mainstream media in the European Union.
A supposedly ‘isolated’ Hungary currently enjoys the best relations of any EU Member State with the two superpowers of this world, the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, as well as with the Russian Federation.
The Resentment Caused by Likud Joining Forces with Patriots for Europe
In a 9 February 2025 article for the Jerusalem Post, editor James Genn described the long-since-repented French National Rally as ‘far-right’. He further attempted to smear PfE by association through an allusion to the ‘cellar Nazis’ of the Austrian Freedom Party, even as Genn himself admits that ‘the FPÖ is not a Nazi party, and most of its voters are not neo-Nazis’—either to guard against libel accusations or out of a jolt of intellectual honesty.
‘When a person of a party is described as “far-right” in mainstream media, it is often code for common-sense ideas’
In a 15 March 2025 article for Middle East Eye, Austrian political scientist Farid Hafez described the rally as swelling the ranks of a supposed ‘far-right international’. The word ‘far-right’ is obsessively used no less than 14 times just in the body of this article, which is less than 900 words long.
In a 17 March 2025 article for Haaretz, journalist David Issacharoff described Likud as ‘officially embracing Europe’s far-right extremists’. He quotes Israeli scholar Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu as saying that ‘Likud’s alignment with the Patriots of Europe is definitive proof that it is no longer a liberal party but an integral part of the extreme, illiberal populist right.’ This illustrates the declensions of liberal establishment dog whistles, as well as how far to the left their centre has moved, to the point that yesterday’s classical liberals, through the mere reassessment of their fundamental values, now find themselves beyond the cordon sanitaire.
These attacks are both irresponsible and self-defeating.
They are irresponsible because the far-rightization of all parties which stray from the uniform thinking of the liberal establishment contributes to the banalization of actually dangerous far-right movements.
They are self-defeating because the peoples of the West have come to understand that when a person of a party is described as ‘far-right’ in mainstream media, it is often code for common-sense ideas feared by the liberal establishment. This is because those common-sense ideas would threaten a dysfunctional status quo, which is only beneficial for the happy few of globalism and destructive for the vast majority.
Why Likud Belongs with Patriots for Europe
Likud has much to contribute to Western conservative thought. As was elaborated on in a 3 December 2023 article by László Bernát Veszprémy, the work and ideas of Likud inspirer Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky (1880–1940) in particular are noteworthy.
Three quotes from this article are worthy of being reminisced over a year since its publication.
First, ‘although the religious right is becoming increasingly dominant in Israel, and is a strong factor in the current government, the fundamental Likud worldview is still secular, right-wing Zionism.’
Second, ‘the free market, freedom of the press, equality for women and respect for minority rights were fundamental tenets of [Jabotinsky’s] thinking.’
Third, Jabotinsky ‘emphasized the value of the individual over the state, but he considered the nation to be even more important than the individual. And the twists and turns of his practical politics can also be traced back to his stateless statesmanship: although he was critical of the excesses of the monster state, he needed a state—a Jewish state.’
‘Wherever they try to undermine you, it means you have done something right’
Just as ‘Jabotinsky was an old-fashioned nineteenth-century national liberal and a committed democrat’, so too is the party he largely inspired classical liberal in nature, while mainstream perceptions of it are responsible for its reputation with some today.
However, more important than Likud as an Israeli party joining forces with PfE is Likud as the governing party of Israel joining forces with PfE.
First, because as antisemitism ramps up, the Israeli government providing clear support for PfE Europe proves radically wrong those who defame it as harbouring significant antisemitic elements.
Second, because Israel’s exemplary domestic policies, whose application is conducive to stronger societies, could spill over into EU public discourse, shattering the taboo against national interest cynically brandished by the liberal establishment.
Third, because Israel is one of the most stable economies in the Middle East. This provides PfE parties with opportunities for strategic partnerships, which will cement their commercial and geopolitical positions.
Likud joining forces with PfE shook the liberal establishment. This can be measured by the intensity of their rhetoric. Patriots ought to look out for such signals from mainstream media: wherever they try to undermine you, it means you have done something right. This is the signal to close ranks and pursue whichever course of action caused this reaction in the first place.
A few months into the instrumental Trump presidency in the United States, patriotic forces everywhere ought to consolidate alliances and make moves that matter. The presidency may last four years, but the midterms will come quickly, and even quicker will come the April 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election.
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