Israel Matzav

How appropriate for Tisha b'Av: Nazis' heirs issue directive declaring Judea and Samaria outside Israel

Just last night, I was reading a Tisha b'Av lecture by Rabbi Shimshon David Pincus zt"l (may the memory of the righteous be a blessing) in which he said that the Holocaust is the modern-day equivalent of the destruction of the Temples. He then went on to give examples from the Holocaust of horrific things that happened to Jews, the likes of which have not been seen since the destruction of the Temple, if ever.

And today, Tisha b'Av, word comes that the continent that spawned the Nazis, the European Union, has issued a directive, effective on Friday, which requires that all future agreements with the State of Israel specifically state that Judea and Samaria are not part of Israel.

According to the directive, any future agreement signed with Israel must include a clause stipulating that the settlements are not part of the sovereign state and are not included in the agreement. It is unclear if and how any Israeli government ministers, including Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) will agree to sign on to any agreement that contains that distinction.

The directive goes into effect on Friday.

David Kriss, EU spokesman in Israel, confirmed the report, adding that the directive will be published on July 19 in an official EU policy publication. In a statement, Kriss said, "On June 30 the European Commission adopted a Notice containing guidelines on the eligibility of Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 for grants, prizes and financial instruments funded by the EU from 2014 onwards. ...

"These guidelines were prepared as a result of the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council of Dec. 10, 2012 which stated that 'all agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.'"

Of course, like the pig that shows its split hoof as if it's Kosher (while it doesn't chew its cud, which is why the pig is a non-Kosher animal), the Euroweenies have to show that they're not anti-Semites.

The statement added that the "guidelines are important in view of the new opportunities that will be offered to Israel as a partner in the European Neighborhood Policy and other funding instruments in the 2014-2020 financial framework. The European Union wants Israel to play a full part in these instruments and it wants to be sure that Israel's participation is not put in question so that Israel will be in a position to make use of all possibilities offered by the new financial framework."

Of course. All we have to do is exclude 10% of our population (and the thousands of Arabs they employ). But of course, the EU will continue to grant benefits to 'Israeli Arabs' and to Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria regardless of what the government does.

In Israel, this is being termed an earthquake.

A senior government official in Jerusalem told Haaretz it was a dramatic directive, calling it "an earthquake."

"This is the first time such an official, explicit directive has been published by the European Union bodies," the senior official said. "Until today there were understandings and quiet agreements that the Union does not work beyond the Green Line [the pre-1967-war armistice line]; now this has become a formal, binding policy."

Read the whole thing.

Just wondering why they don't boycott the Turkish part of Cyprus or why they're considering admitting Turkey to the EU given that Turkey is an occupier. 

There is no mention of the Obama administration in this lengthy article. Apparently President Hussein Obama is voting 'present.' What could go wrong?

CORRECTED FROM EARLIER VERSION REGARDING PIGS.

Labels: BDS, European anti-Semitism, European Union, Judea and Samaria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:41 PM