European policy ...
Sources : Solomonia and Ma'an
So good to know what the Europeans are funding :
[...] European Union Special Representative (EUSR) to the Middle East Peace Process Marc Otte explained as he toured an EU-funded police station in Bethlehem this week [...]
[...] "I know that a political solution include the resolution of other problems like refugees, Jerusalem, as east Jerusalem should become the capital of the Palestinian state. All that needs to be done...I think the honor of the police is to have started to be pioneer in creating the condition for that state," he continued [...]
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Sunday, 11 October 2009
British ambassador to the UN endorsement of Goldstone report
Europeans just can't stop heaping criticism at Israel.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Israeli officials on Sunday responded harshly to remarks over the Goldstone Commission's report on Operation Cast Lead made by British ambassador to the UN John Sawers, saying that London could become a target of legal action if it decided to back the report. "London, which is also in the midst of a war against terror, could find itself in handcuffs if it supports the document," officials told Army Radio.
After convening a meeting to instruct senior diplomats to refrain from issuing separate statements to the media following the diplomat's interview, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem expressed hope that the remarks reflected his personal opinion only and not London's official stance on the issue. The radio station quoted sources in Jerusalem as saying they believed a consensus that the Goldstone report is not a valid legal document was beginning to crystallize.
In an interview earlier Sunday, Sawers told Army Radio that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must examine the findings of the report. The report entails "serious information," that raises suspicions that violations took place during the operation, Sawers said. The tactics used by both sides returned to them "like a boomerang," he added.
Sawers said that he was surprised that the PA had asked to defer until March the UN Human Rights Council-planned endorsement of the report. He also expressed dismay in the fact that both sides failed to cooperate with the commission, adding that the report represented this lack of cooperation.
The ambassador asserted that the judicial authority in Israel, like in his home country, is entirely independent, adding that Britain cannot prevent private persons from filing complaints against Israelis. However, he said, Britain is obviously interested in maintaining normal relations with Israeli politicians and military officials that visit the country, insisting that the state would not by any means prevent them from visiting.
In late September, a British court rejected a petition urging an arrest warrant for Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the grounds that he committed "war crimes" during Operation Cast Lead. The court accepted arguments submitted by the British Foreign Office, which said the defense minister was a state guest, and therefore was not subject to such lawsuits. Barak was in Britain for talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
"We do not intend to let terror win," Barak said in a statement issued by his office. "We will not apologize in any way for our just struggle against terrorism. We will do everything possible so that the representatives of Israel, security officials and soldiers of the IDF will continue to freely travel the world. The theater of the absurd whereby those who defend their citizens need to be on the defensive has to end. Otherwise, the world is likely not only to give a prize to terrorism, but to encourage it."
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Israeli officials on Sunday responded harshly to remarks over the Goldstone Commission's report on Operation Cast Lead made by British ambassador to the UN John Sawers, saying that London could become a target of legal action if it decided to back the report. "London, which is also in the midst of a war against terror, could find itself in handcuffs if it supports the document," officials told Army Radio.
After convening a meeting to instruct senior diplomats to refrain from issuing separate statements to the media following the diplomat's interview, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem expressed hope that the remarks reflected his personal opinion only and not London's official stance on the issue. The radio station quoted sources in Jerusalem as saying they believed a consensus that the Goldstone report is not a valid legal document was beginning to crystallize.
In an interview earlier Sunday, Sawers told Army Radio that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must examine the findings of the report. The report entails "serious information," that raises suspicions that violations took place during the operation, Sawers said. The tactics used by both sides returned to them "like a boomerang," he added.
Sawers said that he was surprised that the PA had asked to defer until March the UN Human Rights Council-planned endorsement of the report. He also expressed dismay in the fact that both sides failed to cooperate with the commission, adding that the report represented this lack of cooperation.
The ambassador asserted that the judicial authority in Israel, like in his home country, is entirely independent, adding that Britain cannot prevent private persons from filing complaints against Israelis. However, he said, Britain is obviously interested in maintaining normal relations with Israeli politicians and military officials that visit the country, insisting that the state would not by any means prevent them from visiting.
In late September, a British court rejected a petition urging an arrest warrant for Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the grounds that he committed "war crimes" during Operation Cast Lead. The court accepted arguments submitted by the British Foreign Office, which said the defense minister was a state guest, and therefore was not subject to such lawsuits. Barak was in Britain for talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
"We do not intend to let terror win," Barak said in a statement issued by his office. "We will not apologize in any way for our just struggle against terrorism. We will do everything possible so that the representatives of Israel, security officials and soldiers of the IDF will continue to freely travel the world. The theater of the absurd whereby those who defend their citizens need to be on the defensive has to end. Otherwise, the world is likely not only to give a prize to terrorism, but to encourage it."
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Norway gets on fine with Saudi Arabia and China ...
"What is the driving force behind anti-Israel sentiment, when nations far worse than Israel in every respect get off scot free ? Iran awakens nowhere near the same degree of hostility, and as for Syria and Libya they are hardly on the map."
Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews
Topic for NTNU seminar: Norway’s relationship to Israel
Norway gets on fine with Saudi Arabia and China. With Russia there is the odd scuffle over investments and fisheries, but as long as Norway remains the only neighbor of Russia not to be invaded by her, we are pretty much content. We do not care much about Sudan. With Israel however we have a relationship which, diplomatically put, "could be better". Why is this?
We are told that the driving force behind the constant criticism against Israel is not anti-Semitism. Absolutely not ! The thought in itself, our Norwegian readers tell us, is ludicrous. Very well. Then what is the driving force behind anti-Israel sentiment, when nations far worse than Israel in every respect get off scot free ? Iran awakens nowhere near the same degree of hostility, and as for Syria and Libya they are hardly on the map.
On NTNU rektor Digernes’ blog, a UK academic has entered the following comment [NTNU seminars on Middle East – based on research or bias?]:
"In my academic career I had never heard about any Norwegian university, until a variety of newspaper articles and e-mails drew my attention to the anti-Israel hate seminars at NTNU and the fact that it was the first time ever in a democratic country that such a series was sponsored by a university rector. I have since looked in some detail into the attitude of Norwegian governments towards Israel and the Jews. It seems to me that it is much more important for NTNU’s students that the rector sponsors a seminar on this subject. It could include many topics, such as Norway’s long history of anti-Semitism, the scandalous restitution process after the Second World War and the systematic obstruction by many authorities during the renewed restitution process in the 1990s. Other subjects could be Norway’s own ethics and those it demands from Israel, double standards in behaviour and ethics towards Israel and Arab countries, media bias, internationally pioneering anti-Semitic acts in Norway, and so on."
Is this a comment worth reflecting upon, or shall we resort to angry rejection? This is a decision it is up to the editors of Akersgata – Norway’s Fleet Street – to decide upon.
- Norway has decided to teach Israel a lesson
- NTNU students protest biased seminars
- NTNU rector Torbjørn Digernes: "Seminar series is praiseworthy initiative"
- SPME: NORWEGIAN ACADEMICS CALL FOR ISRAEL BOYCOTT
- Ilan Pappé dismisses Digernes’ objectivity-defense:"We are all political"
- Stephen Walt recommended by Bin Laden, speaks at NTNU
- Criticism builds against unbalanced NTNU seminars
- NTNU student to dean: "We will not give in"
- Israeli weekly on NTNU
- Dignernes’ blog down after SPME article
- NTNU: A NORWEGIAN HATE UNIVERSITY
- Morten Levin and the serpent’s egg
- Why should Digernes resign ?
Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews
Topic for NTNU seminar: Norway’s relationship to Israel
Norway gets on fine with Saudi Arabia and China. With Russia there is the odd scuffle over investments and fisheries, but as long as Norway remains the only neighbor of Russia not to be invaded by her, we are pretty much content. We do not care much about Sudan. With Israel however we have a relationship which, diplomatically put, "could be better". Why is this?
We are told that the driving force behind the constant criticism against Israel is not anti-Semitism. Absolutely not ! The thought in itself, our Norwegian readers tell us, is ludicrous. Very well. Then what is the driving force behind anti-Israel sentiment, when nations far worse than Israel in every respect get off scot free ? Iran awakens nowhere near the same degree of hostility, and as for Syria and Libya they are hardly on the map.
On NTNU rektor Digernes’ blog, a UK academic has entered the following comment [NTNU seminars on Middle East – based on research or bias?]:
"In my academic career I had never heard about any Norwegian university, until a variety of newspaper articles and e-mails drew my attention to the anti-Israel hate seminars at NTNU and the fact that it was the first time ever in a democratic country that such a series was sponsored by a university rector. I have since looked in some detail into the attitude of Norwegian governments towards Israel and the Jews. It seems to me that it is much more important for NTNU’s students that the rector sponsors a seminar on this subject. It could include many topics, such as Norway’s long history of anti-Semitism, the scandalous restitution process after the Second World War and the systematic obstruction by many authorities during the renewed restitution process in the 1990s. Other subjects could be Norway’s own ethics and those it demands from Israel, double standards in behaviour and ethics towards Israel and Arab countries, media bias, internationally pioneering anti-Semitic acts in Norway, and so on."
Is this a comment worth reflecting upon, or shall we resort to angry rejection? This is a decision it is up to the editors of Akersgata – Norway’s Fleet Street – to decide upon.
- Norway has decided to teach Israel a lesson
- NTNU students protest biased seminars
- NTNU rector Torbjørn Digernes: "Seminar series is praiseworthy initiative"
- SPME: NORWEGIAN ACADEMICS CALL FOR ISRAEL BOYCOTT
- Ilan Pappé dismisses Digernes’ objectivity-defense:"We are all political"
- Stephen Walt recommended by Bin Laden, speaks at NTNU
- Criticism builds against unbalanced NTNU seminars
- NTNU student to dean: "We will not give in"
- Israeli weekly on NTNU
- Dignernes’ blog down after SPME article
- NTNU: A NORWEGIAN HATE UNIVERSITY
- Morten Levin and the serpent’s egg
- Why should Digernes resign ?
Friday, 9 October 2009
15 European citizens living in Israel take legal action against the European Union
"... more than 50,000 EU citizens are living in towns and villages at the southern areas of Israel, nearby the border with Gaza, and they are exposed to consistent Palestinian terrorists’ rocket attacks. Most of the EU-Israelis, like all other Israeli civilians in these areas, are suffering from mental trauma and some of them have suffered severe property damages. The EU must take responsibility for them and prevent any EU financial assistance from getting to terrorist hands in Gaza."In January, an amazing 350 NGOs filed complaints against Israel for war crimes - mostly were European and no doubt many received funds from the European Commission and European governments. Now the JC reports that :
"Fifteen European citizens living in Israel are taking legal action against the European Union for failing to protect them from Palestinian rocket fire while they are living in Israel".
The citizens, of Britain, France, Italy and Hungary, who are all currently living in Israel, have filed a claim with the European Commission demanding that the EU intervenes in the funding of terrorism in Gaza, and takes action to protect them from terrorists while they live in Israel.
They claim that the EU has a duty under Article 3.2 of the European Treaty to offer its citizens “an area of freedom, security and justice.”
All 15 litigants currently live in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which has been an ongoing target of Kassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
They are supported by the European Initiative, Europe's pro-Israeli lobby organisation.
The group is demanding that the EU stops the transfer of European money to Hamas, prevents known terrorists and their leaders entering the EU, and prevents non-profit organisations misusing European funds. They also ask the EU to undertake “any means possible” to protect European citizens living in Israel against terrorism.
The European Commission has confirmed the complaint has been received from lawyers Mordechai Tzivin in Israel and Hugo and Roel Covaliers in Belgium. It has been sent to the Commission’s external relations department.
Mr Tzivin said: "The European Initiative estimates that more than 50,000 EU citizens are living in towns and villages at the southern areas of Israel, nearby the border with Gaza, and they are exposed to consistent Palestinian terrorists’ rocket attacks.
"Most of the EU-Israelis, like all other Israeli civilians in these areas, are suffering from mental trauma and some of them have suffered severe property damages.
"The EU must take responsibility for them and prevent any EU financial assistance from getting to terrorist hands in Gaza"."
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Sweden supports Goldstone report
Israel is disappointed, but not surprised. European citizens too are disappointed with the EU and their leaders ...
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Sweden supports the Goldstone Commission's report into Operation Cast Lead, the country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said Thursday.
Bildt told reporters in Stockholm that South African judge Richard Goldstone was a person with "high credibility" and "high integrity" and that his report carries weight. He said the probe, which alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during last winter's Israel offensive against Gaza, is worthy of consideration. He added the right place for deliberations about the report was the UN Human Rights Council.
Earlier Thursday, Bildt told Swedish Radio that Israel made "a mistake" by not cooperating with the probe, which he called "independent" and "serious."
Sweden currently holds the rotating 6-month presidency of the European Union.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman called Bildt's remarks "disappointing," and said they demonstrated his "lack of reading comprehension skills," since anyone who read the report would know that it was biased. [...]
More on Sweden : here
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Sweden supports the Goldstone Commission's report into Operation Cast Lead, the country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said Thursday.
Bildt told reporters in Stockholm that South African judge Richard Goldstone was a person with "high credibility" and "high integrity" and that his report carries weight. He said the probe, which alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during last winter's Israel offensive against Gaza, is worthy of consideration. He added the right place for deliberations about the report was the UN Human Rights Council.
Earlier Thursday, Bildt told Swedish Radio that Israel made "a mistake" by not cooperating with the probe, which he called "independent" and "serious."
Sweden currently holds the rotating 6-month presidency of the European Union.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman called Bildt's remarks "disappointing," and said they demonstrated his "lack of reading comprehension skills," since anyone who read the report would know that it was biased. [...]
More on Sweden : here
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Europe & Israel: Points East & West: Beyond the Pale?, Emanuele Ottolenghi
Source: Transatlantic Institute
Does Europe have a problem with Israel? In a new book, A State Beyond the Pale (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Robin Shepherd writes that Israel is being treated unfairly in the quantity and quality of attention it receives in Western Europe. Shepherd does not focus on all criticism of Israel — only the steady slide towards demonisation and the occasional use of old anti-Semitic tropes.
Shepherd's well-documented, elegantly written and powerfully argued book is a must-read for anyone interested in this subject. Two recent instances of Israel-related press coverage and the political response they elicited suggest he is spot on.
First, the mass-circulation Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet published a story by Donald Bostrom which alleged that the Israeli Army had systematically harvested organs from the bodies of dead Palestinians. The only established fact was the death of a Palestinian youth whose family had claimed that his corpse had undergone an autopsy without their authorisation. Bostrom later confirmed that he had no conclusive evidence to back up his story.
When Israel protested, asking the Swedish government — the current holder of the EU presidency — to distance itself from what many saw as a 21st-century blood libel, Sweden barricaded itself behind the absolute principle of press freedom. Instead of criticising Aftonbladet, it reprimanded its ambassador to Israel for having dared condemn the article without prior co-ordination with Stockholm.
In mid-September, however, Sweden's government asked a Stockholm museum to remove a display of swastikas and female genitalia to avoid hurting sensitivities during an EU foreign ministers' meeting. What's the Swedish for "consistency"?
A few weeks later, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo also had a little spat with Israel. On 5 September, it published an interview with the Holocaust denier David Irving as part of a string of articles marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. When the Israeli ambassador protested, El Mundo flew the flag of press freedom, implying that Irving's views — while not those of the paper — might be of public interest as long as they were not inflammatory. The ambassador was accused of having a Manichaean view of the world. The editor must have missed the irony of rejecting the Israeli ambassador's claim that El Mundo was delving into moral relativism by calling his view "Manichaean".
Ultimately, what Irving said in the interview was irrelevant. An interview in a prominent publication is a place in the sun and El Mundo gave him one.
It is worth noting that, in contrast to his Swedish colleague Carl Bildt, who chose silence in the wake of Aftonbladet's piece, the Spanish FM, Miguel Moratinos, took a robust view: "The Foreign Minister, while maintaining the most absolute respect for freedom of expression, regrets that space was given to an historian who denies one of the biggest tragedies for humanity in modern history," said a spokesman.
Bildt, who was scheduled to arrive in Israel on official EU business on the same day that Irving's interview was published, had to cancel his trip. Moratinos, whose country will assume the EU presidency after Sweden, visited Israel as scheduled a week later.
It appears that for European editors no doubt familiar with the significant restrictions on press freedom that exist in our heavily regulated continent, Israel is an exception. To smear and slander Israel — or the historical record of the Holocaust — is an absolute right. The Aftonbladet story was less about press freedom and more about a journalist relinquishing any pretence of fairness when a chance to promote a cause to which he is sympathetic came up. A journalist writing such lurid accusations without evidence against any other government would lose face with his colleagues. In this case, Bostrom's colleagues rallied to defend him instead of criticising the likely long-term damage he caused to their profession.
Even when bad taste does not stand in the way of editorial choice, freedom of the press is not the same as the obligation to give a platform to every crank. El Mundo's editor, while waving the flag of press freedom, deleted the Israeli ambassador's letter's last and most damning paragraph, which suggested that his choice to publish Irving was dictated by sensationalism.
El Mundo and Aftonbladet both crossed a red line — making the outrageous legitimate and the extreme mainstream. The thread that runs through their stories is the singling out of Israel to apply a principle they follow less strictly elsewhere. Perhaps, in the editors' minds, Israel is indeed "beyond the pale".
- 'The Spanish are not anti-Semitic'
- Report: Anti-Semitism on Rise in Spain
- Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press'
- Spanish paper calls Holocaust denier Irving 'expert' on WWII
- Swedish author Henning Mankell on Israel apartheid
- Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim
- Into the twilight zone: Swedish editor says “I’m not a Nazi” as he publishes second round of allegations that IDF harvests Palestinian organs
Does Europe have a problem with Israel? In a new book, A State Beyond the Pale (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Robin Shepherd writes that Israel is being treated unfairly in the quantity and quality of attention it receives in Western Europe. Shepherd does not focus on all criticism of Israel — only the steady slide towards demonisation and the occasional use of old anti-Semitic tropes.
Shepherd's well-documented, elegantly written and powerfully argued book is a must-read for anyone interested in this subject. Two recent instances of Israel-related press coverage and the political response they elicited suggest he is spot on.
First, the mass-circulation Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet published a story by Donald Bostrom which alleged that the Israeli Army had systematically harvested organs from the bodies of dead Palestinians. The only established fact was the death of a Palestinian youth whose family had claimed that his corpse had undergone an autopsy without their authorisation. Bostrom later confirmed that he had no conclusive evidence to back up his story.
When Israel protested, asking the Swedish government — the current holder of the EU presidency — to distance itself from what many saw as a 21st-century blood libel, Sweden barricaded itself behind the absolute principle of press freedom. Instead of criticising Aftonbladet, it reprimanded its ambassador to Israel for having dared condemn the article without prior co-ordination with Stockholm.
In mid-September, however, Sweden's government asked a Stockholm museum to remove a display of swastikas and female genitalia to avoid hurting sensitivities during an EU foreign ministers' meeting. What's the Swedish for "consistency"?
A few weeks later, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo also had a little spat with Israel. On 5 September, it published an interview with the Holocaust denier David Irving as part of a string of articles marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. When the Israeli ambassador protested, El Mundo flew the flag of press freedom, implying that Irving's views — while not those of the paper — might be of public interest as long as they were not inflammatory. The ambassador was accused of having a Manichaean view of the world. The editor must have missed the irony of rejecting the Israeli ambassador's claim that El Mundo was delving into moral relativism by calling his view "Manichaean".
Ultimately, what Irving said in the interview was irrelevant. An interview in a prominent publication is a place in the sun and El Mundo gave him one.
It is worth noting that, in contrast to his Swedish colleague Carl Bildt, who chose silence in the wake of Aftonbladet's piece, the Spanish FM, Miguel Moratinos, took a robust view: "The Foreign Minister, while maintaining the most absolute respect for freedom of expression, regrets that space was given to an historian who denies one of the biggest tragedies for humanity in modern history," said a spokesman.
Bildt, who was scheduled to arrive in Israel on official EU business on the same day that Irving's interview was published, had to cancel his trip. Moratinos, whose country will assume the EU presidency after Sweden, visited Israel as scheduled a week later.
It appears that for European editors no doubt familiar with the significant restrictions on press freedom that exist in our heavily regulated continent, Israel is an exception. To smear and slander Israel — or the historical record of the Holocaust — is an absolute right. The Aftonbladet story was less about press freedom and more about a journalist relinquishing any pretence of fairness when a chance to promote a cause to which he is sympathetic came up. A journalist writing such lurid accusations without evidence against any other government would lose face with his colleagues. In this case, Bostrom's colleagues rallied to defend him instead of criticising the likely long-term damage he caused to their profession.
Even when bad taste does not stand in the way of editorial choice, freedom of the press is not the same as the obligation to give a platform to every crank. El Mundo's editor, while waving the flag of press freedom, deleted the Israeli ambassador's letter's last and most damning paragraph, which suggested that his choice to publish Irving was dictated by sensationalism.
El Mundo and Aftonbladet both crossed a red line — making the outrageous legitimate and the extreme mainstream. The thread that runs through their stories is the singling out of Israel to apply a principle they follow less strictly elsewhere. Perhaps, in the editors' minds, Israel is indeed "beyond the pale".
- 'The Spanish are not anti-Semitic'
- Report: Anti-Semitism on Rise in Spain
- Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press'
- Spanish paper calls Holocaust denier Irving 'expert' on WWII
- Swedish author Henning Mankell on Israel apartheid
- Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim
- Into the twilight zone: Swedish editor says “I’m not a Nazi” as he publishes second round of allegations that IDF harvests Palestinian organs
Monday, 5 October 2009
Israeli minister cancels London trip over arrest fears
Chasing Israelis and boycotting Israel have become a European speciality ...JERUSALEM (AFP-EJP)---Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon recently cancelled a planned trip to London over fears that he could be put on trial for alleged war crimes, his spokesman said on Monday.
He called off the trip for fear pro-Palestinian groups in London might seek his arrest for his role, as military chief-of-staff at the time, in the 2002 deaths of 15 people, among them a Hamas leader and eight children.
Yaalon, who is also strategic affairs minister, had been invited to attend a fund-raising dinner hosted by the British branch of the Jewish National Fund, but the foreign ministry's legal team advised against it.
Yaalon was military chief-of-staff when an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb in Gaza City which killed Salah Shehadeh, the head of the armed wing of Hamas, and 14 civilians, including his wife, in July 2002.
Last Tuesday Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak branded a bid to have him arrested in Britain "absurd" as he attended the governing Labour party's annual conference. British activists had sought his arrest over Israel's turn of the year operation in the Gaza Strip. The request was denied on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.
In 2005, Doron Almog, an Israeli general and former head of Israeli army’s Southern Command, warned that he could possibly be arrested if he alighted from his plane at London's Heathrow airport. He remained on board the plane for two hours until it returned to Israel.
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