Israel Matzav

Italian MP: Stop apologizing

I know that a lot of you read the headline and assumed that it was directed at US President Barack Obama, but it's not. The Italian MP involved is Fiamma Nirenstein and she was speaking to Israelis.

Israel should drop apologetics and admit it's fighting a war.

Italian lawmaker Fiamma Nirenstein pressed this message before the new Knesset lobby she helped create, which aims to "strengthen ties between Israel and European parliaments."

Nirenstein, 64, a staunch supporter of Israel and deputy chairperson of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs commission, was the driving force behind the formation last month of Israel's European Forum of the Knesset (EFK).

The new body - whose dozen-odd members include Tzipi Livni, Shaul Mofaz, Daniel Ben-Simon and other notable lawmakers from across the political spectrum - is meant to serve as a counterpart for the European Friends of Israel, an umbrella group of some 1,000 legislators.

Nirenstein, a Jewish Italian journalist and an ally of President Silvio Berlusconi, says some Israelis feel hostile toward Europe, but "not hostile enough considering how hateful some European institutions are of Israel." She expects the members of the new body to "attack ferociously those who demonize Israel in European forums."

Tzipi Livni is going to attack the Euroweenies? Good luck with that!

But Nirenstein does a good job of putting the Europeans in their place.

"Israeli society has something Europe longs for," she says. "Europe is lost and dying out. It longs for a society of values defending its people, for a society which is still able to produce three children per couple. But you have to have the courage to say that you are different to Europe."

She's right of course. But Tzipi Livni? You've got to be kidding.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:32 PM