EU Illegal Settlements Hypocrisy
Israel National News
For the first time, Members of European Parliament (MEP) called on its leadership to cease misuse of international law against Israel.
Two MEPs have spoken out challenging the European Union’s use of international law to condemn Israel for what it called “illegal settlements” while not making such legal claims in any other cases in the world – including the EU’s own occupied territories.
MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen, Vice-Chair of the EU-Israel Relations in European Parliament introduced the subject by saying that the way the High Representative talks about Israeli settlement activity is incorrect.
"According to international law, this is a term that can only be used if the occupied territory belongs to another recognized state. In case of Crimea, its legal status is clear; it belongs to Ukraine. But who did the West Bank belong to before 1967? Not to Jordan, not to the Ottoman Empire, not to Britain. It is peculiar that in case of Northern Cyprus where its legal status is crystal clear, the high Representative does not speak of illegal settlement activity."
MEP Michiel Hoogeveen asked: “Why hasn’t the EU ever called any other people’s residential activities in other occupied territories an international crime? We are aware that there are many territories the EU deems occupied around the world, even in Europe. People move in and out of them all the time. However, the EU only talks about illegal settlers in relation to Israeli Jews.”
He then called on the Commission to either use international law consistently or refrain from using legal language entirely.
Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, head of Kohelet Policy Forum’s international law department, remarked: “It is not just Israelis who are appalled by the EU’s creation of supposedly “international” law rules that only apply to one country. EU parliamentarians are beginning to understand the term ‘illegal settlements’ has no general applicability; it is merely a diplomatic euphemism for “Jews living where we don’t want them to.”
Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
When national pride and sovereignty is involved, most countries ignore international opinion - China is defying international opinion and accelerating building of its artificial islands; Russia invades Ukraine, and is still occupying Southern Ossetia and Abkhazia, ignores outcries against annexation of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine! Only Israel is unable to shake off the ‘galut’ mentality and is conducting probes and investigations after endless and deliberately anti-Semitic international false accusations. It is time to learn how to ignore them and reunite Jewish land, Eretz-Israel. Our enemies are not interested in peace, only in the destruction of the Jewish state!
Iran a Step Away from Weapons-Grade Uranium
Iran announced that it has begun enriching uranium up to 20% purity, using sophisticated centrifuges at its underground Fordow nuclear plan. This is a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The IAEA reported last month that Iran has 43 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity - a short step to 90%. Non-proliferation experts warn that's enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon if Iran chose to pursue it. (All this enriched uranium for 'medical research' only. Iran has no hostile intentions against Israel. Relly?!)
Gutless Politicians Must Remove Enemies
Although Israel’s High Court has ruled six times that the contested area must be evacuated, our leaders have done nothing. The ridiculous saga known as the “Khan al-Ahmar affair,” is the perfect proof that it is all about politics, rather than international law. “The EU only talks about illegal settlers in relation to Israeli Jews,” European parliamentarian Michiel Hoogeveen said, denouncing the twisting of international law to single out Israel. But the problem lies not with Europe, but with us. When Israel wants to move people, it knows how to deploy the best of its forces, and the jurists are at the ready to help out. When Israel doesn’t want to, even the terrible High Court of Justice gives in. (In 2005 8,500 Jews from 21 settlements were forcefully removed from Gaza. Judea, Samaria and Gaza are not occupied territories, but freed Jewish land from the enemy occupation.)
Hezbollah is 'Green' Terrorist Organization Now
Hezbollah has placed transport containers along Israeli border that are used by the fabricated environmental organization “Green Without Borders”. Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan sent an urgent letter to the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General demanding immediate action against Hezbollah positions “Israel continues to stress that the responsibility for Hezbollah’s expansion lies squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese authorities, and expects the Lebanese government to take immediate action to curb Hezbollah’s advancements and military build-up."
Ukraine is still 'Symptomatic' Hater
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrej Melnyk lavished praise on a Nazi collaborator whose followers were responsible for the murder of 800,000 Ukrainian Jews as well as tens of thousands of Poles during the Holocaust. Stepan Bandera, “not only for me personally, but also for many, many Ukrainians, personifies the freedom fighter.” (First, Zeleski demanded aid from Israel, and what was given and done by Israel is never enough. Next, the Ukrainian ambassador in Israel undiplomatically reprimanded the Jewish state, and lavishly praised the war criminal!)
Israel Ends Mediating b/w Russia and Ukraine
Israel will no longer attempt to broker a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. “Despite the deep divisions with Russia over the war,” Prime Minister Lapid is prepared to sit down with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, an Israeli official said. Regarding a possible summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the official said: “We don’t rule it out for a concrete reason, but as of right now no such meeting is in the works.” Israeli-Russian ties have deteriorated during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly accused Israel of failing to stand with Western nations opposed to the invasion.
‘Zionist imam’ Gave Main Hajj Address in Mecca
An imam known for his conciliatory views of Judaism and Christianity aroused fierce controversy in Saudi Arabia when he was chosen to deliver the main address during the hajj Friday in one of Mecca’s most important mosques. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by his initials MBS, personally chose Sheikh Dr. Mohammad al-Issa, overcoming the objections of senior clerics.
Israelis Sceptical about New Election
With Israel poised to hold its fifth Knesset election in four-and-a-half years this November, few Israelis believe the vote will resolve the country’s ongoing political deadlock, which has left Israel without a stable, lasting government since late 2018.
Leaders of Hamas and Fatah Unwillingly Met
PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Algeria, the first such meeting between the two in six years. Because of Fatah-Hamas disagreements, Palestinians have not held a national election since 2005. Abbas is currently in the 17th year of a four-year term as president. A poll conducted last month of so-called Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip showed public support for Hamas. It found that 45% of respondents believed Hamas should lead the Palestinians, while only 19% said Fatah. 80% of Palestinians called on Abbas to resign. (That Israel-hating population must be removed from the Jewish land.)
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) thwarted 172 substantial terror attacks in the last year, while failing to stop seven, the agency’s chief Ronen Bar said. Usually terror attacks are focused on the West Bank and Gaza, but this past spring saw a wave of terror within Green Line Israel, including in Jaffa. (Terror attacks are the symptom. 'Removing the head of a snake' is a cure.)
Quote of the Week:
“One of the reasons the Arab-Israeli conflict persisted for so long was the myth that it could be solved only after Israel and the Palestinians resolved their differences,” Kushner wrote last year. “That was never true. The Abraham Accords exposed the conflict as nothing more than a real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians that need not hold up Israel’s relations with the broader Arab world.” - Jared Kushner
US Presidential Visits to Israel
by Tovah Lazaroff
US President Joe Biden is set to visit Israel now, but Donad Trump made the trip back in 2017, and so did many US presidents.
Biden will make history this week as the first American president to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, a country with which Israel has no formal ties.
But he is not the American leader to be a trailblazer in the sky on that route. Former US President Donald Trump flew to Ben Gurion Airport from Saudi Arabia in 2017, when he first visited the Jewish state.
Israel is sometimes jokingly called the 51st American state. It is a popular destination for presidential hopefuls and congressional delegations. When it comes to the White House, however, Egypt has been the most popular destination.
Saudi Arabia is the second most preferred nation with 12 presidential trips, narrowly followed by Israel which has seen 11 such visits.
Richard Nixon who made history as the first US president to travel to China, was also the first American leader to land in Israel and Saudi Arabia, visiting both countries on the same trip in June 1994.
The US president Biden, who reversed the freeze on American aid to the “pay for slay” Palestinian Authority, is receiving Israel’s Presidential Medal is worse than ironic. Why Israel should consider Biden deserving of such an honour has been the butt of jokes. The Presidential Medal of Honor was introduced in 2012 to honour figures “who have made an outstanding contribution to the State of Israel or to humanity, through their talents, services or in any other form.” (Biden is not a friend of Israel, and he never was! Giving him the country’s highest honour is an act of self-disrespect.)
‘Achievements’ of Biden Administration
Biden was justifying his plans to visit Saudi Arabia and Israel this week. “My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank.” (Saudis will love this one.) The president took credit for ending the conflict between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip last May, though the ceasefire agreement ending Operation Guardian of the Walls was brokered by Egypt.
Biden noted that his administration restored foreign aid payments ($500 million) to the Palestinian Authority, after the Trump administration halted the payments in 2018, citing the Taylor Force Act passed by Congress a year earlier. (Bottom line: nothing to be proud about!)