If at Harvard earlier this year students received their degrees in the colors of Palestine, in Paris this same flag was waved by France Insoumise MPs in parliament. Each set of images remind us of a different time: the 1960s and ’70s, when left-wing parties in Europe and the United States had close relations with the anti-colonial and peace movements.

Mobilizations for peace and for solidarity with the Palestinians have surely been growing over the last ten months, as the Israeli army pursues its massacre. In many European countries, student, anti-fascist, and anti-imperialist groups — as well as more traditional social justice movements and the radical wing of the trade unions — have formed the backbone of solidarity efforts.

But if the France Insoumise MPs’ action in the National Assembly made headlines, how much are Europe’s left-wing parties really bringing the Palestinian cause into the institutions? In truth, their record is rather mixed. Faced with this unique moment of popular protest at Israel’s war and their own states’ complicity, these parties’ stance is also a litmus test of their own political viability.