Guardian journalist shouts anti-Israel slogans at Avigdor Lieberman press conference at EU

BRUSSELS (EJP)---A Irish journalist shouted “Free Palestine” ,“Israel apartheid state” and “Apartheid is a crime” at the start of a press conference by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday.

Approaching the minister, he shouted: “Mister Lieberman this is a critizen’s arrest. You are charged with the crime of apartheid”.

The man, David Cronin, who writes for several newspapers including The Guardian, The Irish Times and European Voice, was immediately removed from the EU Council press room by security guards.

He reportedly provoked the same kind of incident at a press conference by EU Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair at the European Parliament last year.

“If he is a journalist accreditated to the EU, his press card will be confiscated,” one EU official told EJP.

In November, he published a book titled “Europe’s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation.”

Lieberman attended in Brussels the 10th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, the body governing the relations between the two sides.

At the press conference were also Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, whose country currently chairs the EU, and Stefan Fulle, EU Commissioner responsible for Enlargment and Neighborhood Policy.