Au Parlement européen: condamnation quasi unanime d'Israël

Certains parlementaires ont qualifié publiquement l'intervention israélienne d'acte "terroriste", de "kidnapping", "répugnant", et même "obscène", et ont fait le voeu que la prochaine session plénière du Parlement européen voterait une "résolution forte" de condamnation.  Une fois de plus l'hostilité des élites européennes - de gauche comme de droite - contre Israël fait ressortir la différence entre l'Europe et les États-Unis.
 
"Des observateurs ont indiqué que le Parlement européen est l'institution la plus critique d'Israël, même lorsque que les relations entre l'Union européenne et Israël ont connu des périodes de relative harmonie."

Israel’s ambassador tells EU Parliament: 'Soldiers were attacked by a crowd armed with iron bars and knives' , par Yossi Lempkowicz

"Members of the European Parliament almost unanimously condemned Israel's commando operation against a Gaza-bound flotilla and called for an “impartial international inquiry.”

Some, publicly using words such as "terrorism," "kidnapping," "revulsion," and even "obscene" to describe Israel's actions. said they expect the parliament’s plenary session to vote a “strong resolution” condemning the assault.

During a debate of the parliament’s foreign affairs Committee on Tuesday in Brussels, Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Ran Curiel, stressed that the convoy “was not a peaceful humanitarian mission, but a provocation that became a tragedy". He deplored the loss of human life, noting that the incident had left nine dead and fifty-five injured.  The Israeli envoy showed MEPs video images indicating the violence with which some Israeli soldiers boarding the convoy ships had been met. They were "attacked by a crowd armed with iron bars and knives", he said.

Green French MEP Eva Joly, head of the development committee, who was a member of a European Parlaiement delegation that visited Gaza last week, responded heatedly to the video images presented, saying that "there is no guarantee as to the authenticity of the images shown to us, and this why there must be an international inquiry".  She called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for Israel’s accession process to the OECD to be interrupted "until the inquiry outcome is known".


"Israel must not commit acts of piracy to protect itself", said Spanish Socialist MEP María Muniz De Urquiza while Belgian Liberal Annemie Neyts argued that the Gaza blockade must be lifted "for political, as well as humanitarian, reasons".

British Charles Tannock, speaking on behalf of the Conservative group regretted the incident and deplored the loss of lives, but added that no more weapons should reach Gaza and fall into the hands of Hamas.

Asked by Spanish Christian-Democrat MEP Ignacio Salafranca about the number of EU citizens involved in the humanitarian operation, EU Political and Security Committee Chairman Carlos Fernandez Arias, said, on the EU’s foreign policy chief’s behalf, that he had "no specific figures to give". He nonetheless noted that "about 50 people are currently detained" and that "the others are being repatriated". Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative has requested consular access to the Israeli authorities, he added.  As to the consequences of what happened, Fernandez observed that "Middle East diplomacy will be more complicated, and regional tensions exacerbated, notably with Turkey. Egypt is also under pressure to open the Rafah border crossing".

On Tuesday, Jerzy Buzek, the Polish president of the European Parliament and a member of the centre-right European People’s Party group (EPP, the largest in the parliament), called the Israeli actions "unjustified" and "unacceptable."  Buzek issued a joint statement late on Sunday together with a delegation of MEPs who visited Gaza last week, expressing his "deep shock" at the "disproportionate action taken by the Israeli authorities."

"It is a clear and unacceptable breach of international law," he added, demanding that the EU's foreign policy chief move to force Israel to allow access to the Gaza Strip, calling the blockade a "siege." 

But Joseph Daul, head of the EPP, while expressing "shock" at the "excessive force," also sought a mitigating explanation for the violence.  "Many questions have to be answered, like: What is the explanation for such an excessive use of force? Was there a life-threatening resistance to justify the use of live ammunition?" Daul said in a statement.

The European Parliament has been the strongest EU critic of Israel even in times of relative harmony in EU-Israel relations, observers noted."