More Israel-bashing at European Parliament

European Parliament calls for investigation into death of Palestinian prisoner in Israel

BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Parliament said it is “extremely concerned” at the death in February of a Palestinian prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, in an Israeli prison and at the renewed tensions in the West Bank following his death.

Jaradat, 30, died of an apparent heart attack while in Israel’s Megiddo prison in February. He had been arrested a week earlier on suspicion of being involved in a rock-throwing attack that injured an Israeli. An autopsy report by the Israeli authorities stated that there was “no evidence” of physical violence against him. A resolution, initiated by Belgian Socialist MEP Veronique De Keyser and adopted Thursday at the parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, calls on the Israeli authorities “to open independent, impartial and transparent investigations into the circumstances of Jaradat’s death” and raises concerns about the Palestinians held in administrative detention “without charge” .

Undiplomatic EU diplomats

"European diplomats helped draft the unilateral Palestinian statehood bid at the UN in November and they also helped to push it through. Now they want to isolate Israel further by recycling some of the most vicious accusations against Israel from the Arab league."

Thomas Sandell @ The Times of Israel

An internal report issued by EU countries consuls general in Jerusalem and Ramallah has called upon the EU member states to prevent financial transactions, including foreign direct investments from within the EU, in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services.

Reading through the one-sided report leaves one with a Kafkaesque sense of reality. It is a bit like sitting through a one day UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva discussing only Israeli human rights violations. The discussion leaves out – per definition – any mentioning of Palestinian violations. When the question is raised, from time to time, why this is the case the answer is simple. The agenda item is about Israel, not about the Palestinians. This can be understood – though never accepted – in an international forum where human rights standards are defined by some of the cruelest authoritarian regimes in the world.

But Brussels is not Geneva. The European Union is said to be a community of values. These values, however, are shared today by only one country in the Middle East, namely Israel. How can it then be that the EU is constantly putting all the blame for the failed Middle East peace process on the Jewish state? Perhaps the values have disappeared and have been replaced with something else? Did anyone say "petro dollars"?

 The recent diplomatic report is nothing but a verbal onslaught against the Israeli government and in particular those living in the disputed territories. It suggests that "individual member states should consider denying entry to known settler activists". It also calls for "guidelines on retail labels for settler made products, such as wine or cosmetics, in order to guarantee consumers’ right to an informed choice". A rather sophisticated way of echoing the Nazi call, "kauf nicht bei Juden" (don’t buy from Jews). In one of the most mindboggling parts of the report, the diplomats are openly complaining that archeological sites are being dug up which creates a "partisan historical narrative of Jerusalem, placing emphasis on biblical and Jewish connotations of the area, while neglecting Christian and Muslim ties". What exactly does the report mean by "partisan historical narrative"? Are the authors perhaps suggesting, like Mahmoud Abbas, that there was never a Jewish temple in Jerusalem and that all Jews in Jerusalem are trespassers who will eventually have to be evacuated once Jerusalem has been proclaimed the capital of a Palestinian state? The report does not say, it only insinuates.

"Youth" shouted "Fuck Israel" and "Stinking Jew" at non-Jew in Brussels

Background: HERE

During a session at the Brussels regional parliament on March 8, MP Alain Destexhe called for action following the use of an anti-Semitic cartoon by a cultural and educational association affiliated to the Socialist party on a invitation to a conference about Zionism to be held in Brussels.  His criticism drew furious reactions from other Socialist MPs.

MP Jacques Brotchi, who is a retired eminent professor of neurosurgery, wrote on his Facebook account that the outburst of hatred was a deeply traumatizing experience for him. He had to leave because he couldn't bear the shouting and the abuse from socialist MPs against Mr Destexhe who had had the courage to tell the truth. "In a democratic society, where the rule of law prevails, such behaviour is unacceptable and intolerable. I was deeply shocked by what I experienced this afternoon at the Brussels Parliament", he wrote.

Mr Destexhe reported on his blog that a member of staff at the Parliament, who is not Jewish (Mr Destexhe is not Jewish either), had told him that he was walking in Brussels recently. It was a rainy day and he was wearing a large overcoat and a hat. A group of "youth" ("youth" means in polite language young Arab men) shouted at him "Fuck Israel" and "stinking Jew"...  Here in French.

In 2011, Mr Brotchi resigned from Free Brussels University Board to protest againt repeated anti-Semitic incidents.

Head of European Humanist Association calls Shimon Peres a 'war criminal', a liar and a hypocrite

Belgian Israel-basher Pierre Galand, a much respected (and this is surreal, also highly regarded by Belgian francophone Jewish leaders) and highly influencial socialist politician and 'humanist', has called for the boycott of Shimon Peres and accused him of being a "war criminal" who behind the façade of a "man of peace" is the representative of a "criminal State".  On a previous occasion Mr Galand said that Israel was a rogue State.  He also suggested that Yithzak Rabin was a war criminal.  

On the occasion of Peres' visit to Belgium, one of the anti-Israel associations he chairs (one of them is BDS) released a statement:  "His dovish image serves to obscure the real face of this Israeli politician.  Since 2007 as President of the State of Israel, he has used his positive image to help tone down the international negative reactions to the policies of the Israeli governments who lean more and more to the right".

Pierre Galand also summoned "criminal" Shimon Peres to the last session of the Belgian kangaroo court he created (Russell Tribunal on Palestine) to be held next week in Brussels and to free Marwan Barghouti, hinting at Israel-apartheid. More on Mr Peres visit to Belgium: Belgian Jewish leaders invite head of anti-Israel university to debate with Shimon Peres.

In French: Un ancien sénateur belge traite Shimon Peres de "criminel de guerre"

Belgian Jewish leaders invite head of anti-Israel university to debate with Shimon Peres

Belgian Jewish leaders invited the head of the Free University of Brussels to a debate which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be a disastrous "blame-Shimon-Peres-and-Israel-game". The audience was shocked by the violence of the charge.  President Peres who was scheduled to answer questions, but left immediately after answering Mr Vivier's accusations. There are people in Belgium who hold positive views on Israel but they are ignored, why do Belgian Jewish leaders turn to Israel-bashers? Yet again, the debate was not about Israel. The debate was about the Israel-Arab conflict and the badness of Israel.  The Free University of Brussels is a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and honestly the Rector who wascriticised for accepting the invitation to meet Peres had to be shown to be more than critical of Israel.  The Russell Tribunal on Palestine was created by Pierre Galand and others from the ULB who called Shimon Peres a "war criminal" ("behind his facade of a man of peace he is a war criminal" and the "representative of a criminal State"). M. Peres praised the United States and President Obama. Well done Mr. Peres and sorry for the affront.

Yossi Lempkowicz @ EJP:

Speaking on Tuesday at an event hosted by the umbrella representative groups of the Belgian Jewish community, the president Shimon Peres responded to "concerns" about the Israeli government’s policy expressed by the rector of the Brussels Free University (ULB), Didier Viviers, who was invited to debate with the Israeli leader in presence of ambassadors, academics, politicians and members of the Jewish community.

 Viviers’s presence at the event had been sharply criticized by several fellow professors as well as by pro-Palestinian and extreme left pro-boycott activists who staged a demonstration in front of the Palais des Academies where the event took place. "I accepted the invitation to discuss with the president and to ask him a few questions as part of our freedom of speech," he said. "My university, Mister President, is concerned about violations of international law. The colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal and violates the Geneva Convention," the rector told Peres. He also questioned the president's personal position on the issue and what he called the "double discourse." "While you are in favor of negotiations with the Palestinians on the issue, colonisation, which is the main obstacle, continues, even in East Jerusalem, a policy which is condemned by the Europeans," he said, before bluntly asking : "Mr President dont’you feel that you are used by Netanyahu and Lieberman."

In his lenghty response, Peres recalled that the Arabs rejected the partition plan of Palestine in 1947 into a Jewish and an Arab state. "The Arabs rejected it while we accepted." "Israel was attacked seven times, went through seven wars not only with the Palestinians but also with Arab countries." "We made peace with Egypt and Jordan and we gave back all land and water, and though people still criticze us.," he said. Recalling the time when he had to replace Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin after he was assassinated in 1995, Peres stressed that Palestinian terror followed began with several bloody bus bombings. "But we later started a peace process with the Palestinians, we helped buit their economy, their security. We agreed to give back the Gaza Israeli settlements completely. Instead of creating a state, Hamas, a terror group, took control of Gaza." " We have to complete our negotiations with the Palestinians but Hamas, which controls Gaza, doesn’t want to negotiate while the PLO under President Abbas in the West Bank doesn’t have control over the whole situation."  [...]

Belgium: an antisemitic cartoon to illustrate a conference on Zionism

An anti-Semitic and holocaust-denying cartoon featured on posters for a conference in Brussels - in an area, Molenbeek, densely populated by Muslims - organised by the local section of the Socialist party.  The conference was cancelled.  The theme was "Let's talk calmly about Zionism"...  You couldn't make it up, could you?

David Meyer, an Israel-bashing rabbi testified in Congress on European anti-Semitism

Times of Israel: "Twelve experts of varying religions and homelands urged the US Congress to speak out against hate speech and anti-Semitism throughout the world, notably Europe. The human rights subcommittee of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee held a two-hour hearing on Wednesday in which experts testified that anti-Semitism is resurgent, particularly in Europe."

It is indeed odd that David Meyer, a French rabbi who lives in Belgium and who is a relentless and harsh critic of Israel who advocates a bi-national State was invited as an "expert" on anti-Semitism to the United States Congress.  Rabbi Meyer is more known for his criticism of Israel on the European media than for his fight against anti-Semitism.  Pity that in his exposé before the Committee he didn't elaborate on his unbelievable views on Israel.

In 2010, he gave an interview titled "It is more than time for Israel to wake up" to the French communist paper L'Humanité. This is how he was introduced: "Rabbi David Meyer holds dual French and Israeli citizenship. He is the author of several books and now lives in Belgium. He has been a committed militant for years and has unrelentlessly denounced the colonization [settlements] which he considers a fault on the part of the Israeli leadership. He has also been a critic of the blockade imposed by Tel Aviv [the capital of Israel!] on the Gaza Strip. He strongly condemns the attack against the peace flotilla off the strip of Palestinian land and calls on the Israeli leadership to "open their eyes" and to come out of their "messianic bubble".

"What is your reaction to last week's tragic events [Turkish flotilla]?
David Meyer: "I find them appalling. And I think that in such circumstances the role of religion is to show to those in one's own camp [the Jews] that they are no longer able to see [i.e. that they are blind]. There in the Jewish world and in Israel an inability to see what it means to put hundreds of thousands of people in prison for years just because they voted for Hamas. This is what Israel is doing in the Gaza strip. It is a sign of absolute failure of Israel vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue. This is very serious. Israeli leaders have no excuses, no mitigating circumstances. You do not kill civilians, especially when you are responsible for the situation created by the blockade. If the Jewish world does not wake up, nothing Jewish will be left in the State of Israel and it will of no interest. Jewish tradition teaches us that man must be able to surpass himself and see the human side even in his enemy and in the friend of his enemy. If the Jews of Israel are no longer capable of this, Israel will not survive. This is my fight and I am determined to continue."

When asked about a European movement JCALL inspired by J Street, Meyer boasts that over the previous decade he has gone much further and said things much harsher about Israel than those contained in the "call" and that he "even said before the last election that one has to become a dissendent on the face of what the State of Israel is becoming. We must call a spade a spade and say that there are moral faults when creating an injustice that is not necessary for one's survival. The colonization [settlements] is not necessary. I signed the petition to express that while showing my commitment to Israel". He complains that religion in Israel has "infected the secular world". And how will the future of Israel unfold? " I have always thought that long-term solution will be a federal and bi-national State, but it should go through a temporary phase of two States, Israel and Palestine. My model is Belgium, where we live together even if we do not like one other. Obviously, what is happening in Belgium is worrying, because if the federal model no longer works here, there is little change it will succeed there." He praises Jimmy Carter and criticises Barack Obama: "An outside power - the United States have the capacity - must force Israel out of its isolation and say, as Carter did in his time: "Enough is enough". I was hoping that Obama would do it, and I do not understand his procrastination."

Shimon Peres summoned to Belgian kangaroo court and to free Marwan Barghouti

"We would like to formally invite you to take part in this historic event. We would also like to seize this opportunity of this letter to ask you, in your position as Nobel Prize winner, President of the State of Israel and someone that has always advocated a just and durable peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, to free Marwan Barghouti. This would enable him to be in Brussels with us on these two days. Such a gesture from you would certainly be as important as the one F.W de Klerk did with Nelson Mandela in 1991 [this is particularly rich: the kangaroo count has found Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid... and Pierre Galand, who wrote the letter, says that Israel is a "rogue State" - The Russell Tribunal on Palestine dishonours victims of apartheid]. It would also mark a new beginning for Israeli-Palestinian relationships that I am sure will be a revolution in itself." (Pierre Galand)

From Pierre GALAND, General Coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (Feb. 20, 2013)

Shimon Peres
President State of Israel

Dear Mr President,

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is a people’s initiative whose proceedings were launched in 2009 in response to a call from Ken Coates, Chairman of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Nurit Peled, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2001, and Leila Shahid [she is the great grand niece of Hitler's friend Hadj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, and Yassir Arafat's cousin], Ambassador of Palestine to the European Union (EU). The RToP follows on the footsteps of the people’s tribunals established by the philosopher Bertrand Russell on Vietnam (1966-1967) and the Lelio Basso International Foundation for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples of Latin America (1974-1976).

[Interestingly, Bertrand Russell had a poor opinion of Islam: "Bolshevism combines the characteristics of the French Revolution with those of the rise of Islam; and the result is something radically new, which can only be understood by a patient and passionate effort of imagination. [...] Marx has taught that Communism is fatally predestined to come about; this fits in with the Oriental traits in the Russian character, and produces a state of mind not unlike that of the early successors of Mahomet. Opposition is crushed without mercy, and without shrinking from the methods of the Tsarist police, many of whom are still employed at their old work. Since all evils are due to private property, the evils of the Bolshevik régime while it has to fight private property will automatically cease as soon as it has succeeded."]

Noting the failure of third parties to push Israel to respect fundamental international legal norms and to comply with their international obligations, the RToP seeks to contribute to a just resolution of the conflict by mobilizing public opinion, enhancing the role of civil society and providing it with the legal tools it requires to take action.

On March 17, the RToP will convene for its closing session in Brussels. At this event, the members of the Jury will review the findings of the previous four international sessions of the RToP, which highlighted the complicity of third parties (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and multinational corporations) in breaches of international law by Israel in Occupied Palestine.

Anti Israel voculabury enrichment: sociocide, spaciocide, genocide of links, genocide of consciences

Elder of Ziyon: Newest pseudo-academic anti-Israel buzzword: "Spacio-cide"

If you need an example of how anti-Israel academics use the veneer of scholarship to target Israel, here's a good one by Sari Hanafi at the American University of Beirut: 

"This article argues that the Israeli colonial project is ‘spacio-cidal’ (as opposed to genocidal) in that it targets land for the purpose of rendering inevitable the ‘voluntary’ transfer of the Palestinian population primarily by targeting the space upon which the Palestinian people live. The spacio-cide is a deliberate ideology with unified rational, albeit dynamic process because it is in constant interaction with the emerging context and the actions of the Palestinian resistance. By describing and questioning different aspects of the military-judicial-civil apparatuses, this article examines how the realization of the spacio-cidal project becomes possible through a regime that deploys three principles, namely: the principle of colonization, the principle of separation, and the state of exception that mediates between these two seemingly contradictory principles."

In summary, Israel is evil, and therefore we must find a way to define everything it does as inherently evil and then explain it afterwards. The author has to admit that Israel isn't engaging in genocide - even academics can only stretch the truth so much - so he has to come up with a new, similarly-evil sounding construct. [...]

In Brussels, the Russell kangaroo tribunal for Palestine will examine the Israel crime of "sociocide".  A Belgian psychiatrist Francis Martens devised a few years ago two new expressions to qualify Israel's supposed crimes: "the genocide of consciences" and the "genocide of links" (sociocide?).  

How to tackle anti-Semitism in Europe: stop funding anti-Semites

Douglas Murray @ Gatestone Institute:

I was asked to Brussels to address the matter of what the European Union might do to tackle anti-Semitism. The answer is easy: "Stop funding anti-Semites." 

And so it was that I found myself once again in a meeting in the twilight world of Brussels -- an ugly city filled with ugly buildings, ugly overpriced food and overpaid officials. The objective of any visit must always be a hit-an-run: to get in and get out as swiftly as possible. The only reason to go is to try and inject some sense into a city so starved of it. When, therefore, asked to address the matter of what the European Union might do to tackle anti-Semitism, the answer is easy: "Stop funding anti-Semites." What is hard is that this is Brussels [see below], where words are meaningless and nothing makes any sense. Here is just one example: The Palestinian Ma'an News Agency is one of the most supremely anti-Semitic organs in the Middle East. Which I hope readers realize is putting it in the premier league of anti-Semitic slander.  Continue reading
______________________
About Brussels (in French):

Belgique: l'obsession anti-israélienne (1)

Belgique: l'obssession anti-israélienne (2)

And... the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, made in Brussels...
The final session of the RToP will take place in Brussels on 16-17 March 2013. On Saturday evening (March 16) a cultural evening will be organised (doors open 6.30pm/close midnight) where musical acts (including a performance from French band ZEBDA) will be mixed with political speeches by various jury members (tickets 10 euros at the door). Session itself will take place on Sunday from 9.30am until 1pm. Jury will comment on the final findings of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. (Free. To register, email rtopinvitationgmailcom giving us your name, function, organisation/group/charity you belong too-if applicable-, and country you will be coming from. You will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter). 

Copenhagen, headmistress recommeds Jewish kids go to school with fewer Muslims

Norway, Israel and the Jews:

Aftenposten 2013/01/29, by Sofie Gran

Summary: On anti-Semitism in Denmark, reaching unacceptable levels in schools, making headmasters recommend Jewish students move to schools with fewer Muslims.

The image chosen to highlight this article depicts Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen of the Danish “Enhedslisten” party, a party on the extreme left, having made numerous anti-Israeli statements, talking to students.

In Brussels for a Jewish school in downtown Brussels, it’s relocate or shut down.  The school looks like a bunker.  Surely a nice environment for children.

Israel-basher Anna Baltzer also invited to Brussels

Exposing the Palestinians' Anna Baltzer, Will Oxford Endorse a Fraud?, by Lee Kaplan


Anna Baltzer has also been invited to give a conference on BDS and apartheid Israel in Brussels on 4 February by an fully-dedicate anti-Israël Belgian NGO l'Association Belgo-Palestinienne Wallonie-Bruxelles and Progressive Belgian Jews Juifs (UPJB).  Belgium is always at the forefront of anti-Israel propaganda and campaigning.

Belgian artist Ben Heine has drawn this portrait of "Pietanna", i.e. Anna Baltzer. It draws on the most vicious Christian anti-Jewish martyrology - Christ is depicted as a Palestinian killed by Israelis.

Source: Ben Heine's blog

'The Jews crucified Our Lord': Irish antisemitism and the complicity of the Catholic bishops

"Palestinians living in Gaza are being treated worse then [sic] animals in a zoo. Ireland must do everything we can to end Israel’s collective punishment of civilians, which is a flagrant breach of international law." (Justin Kilcullen, director of Trócaire - he is also head of CONCORD, the Brussels-based powerful European confederation of 1,600 NGOs across 21 countries for relief and development. The European Union generously provides funds to Trócaire and CONCORD.)
_____________________________________________

Ruth Dudley Edwards * @ Daily Telegraph:

Pro-Palestinian fanatics blame 'the Jews'
for Jesus' death

Sarah Honig, a recent Israeli visitor to Cahersiveen, a charming little town in County Kerry, wrote yesterday in the Jerusalem Post of being asked in its main street for a donation by three teenage boys carrying large signs saying "Free Palestine". When asked from whom Palestine was to be freed, they replied "The Jews". "Are you sure", she asked, "that this money wouldn’t fund terrorists and murderers?" She was thrown by the response: "What do you have against Palestinians? What have they done to you? They are only against Jews. Jews are evil." One of them helpfully added that the Jews "crucified Our Lord". Honig then met the teacher, who explained he had brought them out during school hours as part of a class project "to further a humanitarian goal" by inculcating a commitment to charitable work. He "nodded in agreement without a word of objection" when she told him of the children’s remarks about Jews.

Those of us who publicly address the one-sidedness of the Irish take on the Middle East are used to ill-informed and/or bigoted politicians and activists (particularly but not exclusively republican or of the Left), but the Catholic Church has been having a pernicious effect too, particularly through its official overseas development agency, Trocaire, an Irish word meaning compassion.
More HERE (In French HERE)

More on Trocaire HERE, HERE and HERE.

Belgian Minister slams ‘fundamentalist’ Orthodox Israeli colleague for refusing to shake hands

Laurette Onkelinx and her party (Socialist) are known to be hostile to Israël. Former ambassador to Belgium Jehudi Kinar: "Another powerful figure in the party is Laurette Onkelinx, then-Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister. We met a number of times. She promised me she would speak with Di Rupo, as she could not believe that my letter had not been answered. Onkelinx assumed there had been a technical glitch. When we did not receive an answer from Di Rupo, I sent her a letter. She did not acknowledge it. In the new government she will be Minister for Social Affairs and Health, and again Deputy Prime Minister." Her husband, lawyer Marc Uyttendaele, wrote a nasty anti-Israel book in 2006... (See: Belgium's New Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and the Jews)

BRUSSELS (EJP)--- Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx accused an Israeli Orthodox Minister of ‘fundamentalism’ for choosing not to shake hands with her. The two health ministers met at the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva, when Onkelinx claims her Orthodox Israeli counterpart refused to shake her hand.

Yakov Litzman is Israel's Deputy Health Minister and a leader of the haredi United Torah Judaism party and, as such, does not touch members of the opposite sex under any circumstances. Onkelinx reacted to the event by posting news of it on her official Facebook page, under the heading “My hands are clean!”.

In the text that followed, she described how it was her second such “profoundly troubling” experience, the first being when she met an Iranian official: “This kind of fundamentalist attitude, connected to a certain perception of religion and women, profoundly troubles me”, the statement went on to say. The Jewish community has condemned the Belgian minister’s response, with editor of Jewish publication Joods Actueel claiming it “demonstrates her ignorance”: “Mr Litzman’s refusal to shake Ms. Onkelinx’s hand had nothing to do with any view on women or impurity...It’s the custom. A more seasoned politician would have been aware of this sensibility in advance”, said editor-in-chief Michael Freilich. Numerous bloggers also posted about the "gaffe," the majority concluding “ignorance may not kill, but it’s not a reason to take umbrage with a stranger”. [Many comments are viciously anti-Jewish and she is not on record for having complained about the Iranian official.  Furthermore, she knows full well that there are many Muslims in Brussels who do not shake hands with opposite sex, but again she does not complain about them. What's more, Pinchas Kornfeld, an orthodox Jew who lives in Antwerp claims he has met Mrs Onkelinx several times, didn't shake hands with her, and she never complained either.  Her sudden anger seems to be politically motivated - her outburst is set to please the Muslim (mainly Arab) population in Brussels put at a formidable 30% and set to grow.] 

Angela Davis joins Anti-Israel Russell Tribunal Jury

Source: Russell Tribunal on Palestine

"Angela Davis joins Russell Tribunal Jury (3 May)

Angela Davis, the well known American political activist, scholar and author, has just announced that she will join the jury of the Tribunal for our 4th and final session in New York. Angela has, throughout her life, always stood for justice and freedom for all and will be a fantastic addition to an already stellar cast." [Stellar cast? An obvious overstatement.]

See: Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2012 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)


The "Tribunal" (in fact a kangaroo court) was created in Belgium by Pierre Galand of the Free University of Brussels (ULB). Angela Davis was awarded on 14 May the degree Doctoris Honoris Causa by the Free University of Brussels. Questioned by students about the BDS campaign, she declared that she was in favour of the creation an official anti-Israel BDS Student Association at the university (like the Law Student Association, the History Student Association, etc). This association was indeed created a few days later.

Source

'1938-style Jew hatred still alive in Belgium'

There are countless gatherings like these in Europe every year - and every body vows to combat anti-Semitism.  But nothing changes.  Last year, this year, next year the same ritual, the same solemn promises again and again.  One only has to look at how Europe treats the Roma population to understand that nothing will be done.

Pro-Hamas rally in Brussels (11 Jan. 2009)

'1938-style Jew hatred still alive in Belgium' By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 29/01/2012 - Edelstein tells European dignitaries that anti-Semitism rife in Europe.

The sort of anti-Semitic attacks that took place in Europe in 1938 are occurring here today, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein told European dignitaries and Jewish leaders on Thursday night.

“A brick hurled at a Jewish shop. A Molotov cocktail at a rabbi’s house. A Jewish girl attacked at school. These aren’t memories of Europe in 1938, but headlines in 2011,” Edelstein said in a speech at a ceremony in Belgium. Edelstein represented Israel at an event celebrating Belgium’s chairmanship of the intergovernmental Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education. Belgium will replace the Netherlands as the task force’s leader in March. Under Belgium’s chairmanship, the task force is to be transformed and renamed the International Holocaust Remembrance Organization. Some 300 people attended the ceremony in Mechelen where Edelstein spoke last week. “My concern is the escapism that occurs in these ceremonies,” Edelstein told The Jerusalem Post after his speech. “Conclusions from current incidents in Belgium, Holland and elsewhere must be drawn: Anti-Semites replace ‘Jew’ with ‘Zionist’ or ‘Israeli.’ They tell any blood libel and call it political debate.” 

Belgian newspaper accused of deligitimizing Israel by not mentioning the country on Mideast map

Le Soir is notoriously and obsessively hostile to Israel, promoting boycotts etc.  The newspaper featured the map for two successive days (26 and 27 December) without realising after the first day that something was amiss.  A clear indication of the quality its experts and its readership's apathy...  Jean-Philippe D., who is not Jewish, wrote to Le Soir: "One thing still confounds me. The words "Palestinian Authority" target the West Bank [Cisjordanie in French] territories (the Israelis say "Judea and Samaria" and English-speakers "the West Bank") and Gaza. The Palestinian Authority is not a territory but a government! Strange ... Another mistake is to make a connection between the P.A and Gaza. The real Authority in Gaza is obviously the Hamas!".  Spot on!

Reminder: Maroun Labaki of Le Soir wrote in 2010 that EU Commissioner De Gucht had broken taboos re the Jewish Lobby and Jewish irrationality.  This also gives an idea of where the paper's sympathies lie: Brussels: Jihad by vuvuzela!

BRUSSELS (EJP) ---Being accused by the Jewish community in Belgium of "deligitimizing Israel” by failing to mention this country’s name on a Middle East map illustrating articles on the Arab Spring, Belgian daily Le Soir speaks of an "indisputable error" but said it was "outraged and insulted" by the accusation.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the CCOJB, the umbrella body representing Jewish organizations in Belgium, regretted "that once again newspaper Le Soir delights in the delegitimization of the State of Israel by publishing, during two consecutive days, a map of the Middle East, which simply ignores the existence of the State of Israel."

"In addition, the words ‘Palestinian Authority’ were included in the place of Israel, which is also untrue and denies the duality existing between Gaza and the West Bank," the statement added.  "The CCOJB condemns this double breach of truth and rigorous information."

Reacting to the accusation, the paper's chief editor Didier Hamman admitted that "this is undoubtedly a mistake, I plead guilty and apologize." But he also said he was "shocked and insulted" by the accusation from CCOJB that the newspaper did it intentionally.

Europe: Hands off Israel!

"The last thing that Israel needs is for the sanctimonious, hostile and (to a great extent) stupid European Parliament to stick its nose into the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel."

Considering that the Far Right gaining strength and that neo-Nazi groups (like in Italy and Germany) have attacked and killed immigrants, as welle as the rise in anti-Semitism, it takes a lot of arrogance for Europeans to lecture Israel.  Deborah Lipstadt said recently "that overall the situation in Europe was "not good" and added: "I wouldn’t want to send my kids to Jewish school in Belgium.""

Source: Fresno Zionism

The European Union, as well as EU countries independently, provide millions of dollars annually to finance left-wing Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which could not survive on what they would get from the small number of Israelis that support them.

These organizations use their resources to try to influence Israeli policies, laws, actions and even elections. They sponsor anti-government demonstrations, protests against the security fence, etc. In addition, they present highly distorted ‘data’ to the UN and to the media outside of Israel. For example, the majority of the material cited by the Goldstone Commission to support its false and libelous conclusion that Israel deliberately targeted Arab civilians in Gaza came from these NGOs.

They have also participated in ‘lawfare’, instigating prosecutions in foreign countries of Israeli officials for ‘war crimes’ which did not occur, supported boycott-divestment-sanctions, encouraged anti-Zionist activities among Arab citizens of Israel, etc.

These groups are in the forefront of the effort to delegitimize the Jewish state from without and destabilize it from within, and there is an ongoing debate in Israel’s Knesset about how to control, or at least expose, their foreign funding. An excellent summary of the issue is provided by NGO Monitor here.

No nation likes it when others interfere in its internal affairs, and the massive scale of intervention in the case of Israel is remarkable. But recently an internal EU document has come to light which calls for an even greater attack on Israeli sovereignty:

The European Union should consider Israel’s treatment of its Arab population a “core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to a classified working paper produced by European embassies in Israel, parts of which were obtained by Haaretz.
This is an unprecedented document in that it deals with internal Israeli issues. According to European diplomats and senior Foreign Ministry officials, it was written and sent to EU headquarters in Brussels behind the back of the Israeli government.
Other issues the document deals with include the lack of progress in the peace process, the continued occupation of the territories, Israel’s definition of itself as Jewish and democratic, and the influence of the Israeli Arab population.
The original document also included suggestions for action the EU should take, but these were removed from the final version at the insistence of several countries.
Among these were the suggestion that the EU file an official protest every time a bill discriminating against Arabs passes a second reading in the Knesset, and that the EU ensure that all Arab towns have completed urban plans, “with each member state potentially ‘adopting’ a municipality to this end.”

There is no internal issue more pressing for Israel than the relationship between the Jewish population and the 20% of Israeli citizens who are Arabs. Simplistic understandings of the admittedly difficult relationship as one of a powerful majority discriminating against a minority ignore the increasing perception of many Arabs that they are ‘Palestinians’, not Israelis (and the idea that ‘they are all disloyal’ is also simplistic and wrong).

Secret EU paper aims to tackle Israel's treatment of Arab minority

According to a European diplomat involved in drafting the report, work on it began more than a year ago at Britain's [!] initiative. The idea was to write a report that could be debated by a forum of EU foreign ministers. At some point, however, several countries, among them the Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands, expressed objections to its contents.

More evidence of the total lack of consideration European élites have for Jews and Israel. Considering how Europe treats their fellow Europeans, the Roma, and other minorities, European arrogance is amazing.

Source: Haaretz

The European Union should consider Israel's treatment of its Arab population a "core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," according to a classified working paper produced by European embassies in Israel, parts of which were obtained by Haaretz.

This is an unprecedented document in that it deals with internal Israeli issues. According to European diplomats and senior Foreign Ministry officials, it was written and sent to EU headquarters in Brussels behind the back of the Israeli government.

Other issues the document deals with include the lack of progress in the peace process, the continued occupation of the territories, Israel's definition of itself as Jewish and democratic, and the influence of the Israeli Arab population.  The original document also included suggestions for action the EU should take, but these were removed from the final version at the insistence of several countries.

Among these were the suggestion that the EU file an official protest every time a bill discriminating against Arabs passes a second reading in the Knesset, and that the EU ensure that all Arab towns have completed urban plans, "with each member state potentially 'adopting' a municipality to this end."

European Jewish NGOs members of NGO headed by a Muslim Brother

A handful of European Jewish associations are members of the European Network against Racism (ENAR) pompously self-proclaimed "the voice of the anti-racist movement in Europe".  No less...

Two from Britain feature on their website : the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Academic Response to Antisemitism & Racism (ARAR).

ENAR is based in Brussels and is headed by Michael Privot, a Belgian convert to Islam and a Muslim Brotherhood member as he revealed himself in a newspaper "Muslim Brotherhood: Time for coming out! '". See also: Verviers: Hamas headquarters

A little background on Mohammed Abdul Aziz, a founding member of ENAR, before Privot took over: "Mr Aziz has also been involved with the East London Mosque; the London Muslim Centre; the Muslim Council of Britain; the Commission for Racial Equality; the Equal Opportunities Commission; the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism; the European Network Against Racism [you will find his name here on p. 3 last para.]; and the UK Race and Europe Network. First, the advice Mr Aziz gives. The Daily Telegraph revealed this year that Mr Aziz had suggested that the new Government build closer ties with the controversial East London Mosque. He said that ministers should be willing to share a stage with groups that promote "a message of divisiveness, expressing intolerance towards other communities in the UK", and to treat privately with organisations that might support "violent extremism in Britain". Last night he apparently claimed that this was "completely untrue"."

Moreover, among the 13 European associations (transnational) affiliated with the ENAR, two are Jewish: the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the European Centre for Jewish information. The national Jewish associations listed as being members are:

Belgium: Auschwitz Foundation (ENAR is cited on the website of the Belgian Auschwitz Foundation)
France: Simon Wiesenthal Center
Germany: Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland
Netherlands: CIDI
Hungary: B'nai Brith
UK: Board of Deputies of British Jews and Academic Response to Antisemitism & Racism (ARAR).

See: The Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium, a NEFA Foundation report (2008).  Note disturbing links with Hamas.