Here’s an EU official with surprising good sense:
“At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas,” Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters.
“I intentionally say this here — Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such,” Michel said as he visited the town of Jabalya in northern Gaza.
“Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again – be it the [European] commission, the member states or the major donors — for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed,” he said.
Reuters quoted the EU official as saying that the Islamic group had used civilians as “human shields” by placing operatives in residential areas, and said that the years of terrorist rocket-fire on southern Israel served as a “provocation.”
The report also quoted Michel as saying that, “When you kill innocents, it is not resistance. It is terrorism.” — Jerusalem Post
If there was ever a situation in which the international community should intervene to bring about ‘regime change’, it’s the case of Hamas.
- Hamas is an aggressor, employing terrorism against the civilian population of its neighbor, against which it has declared unending war.
- Hamas leaders are war criminals, certainly no less so than Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein.
- Hamas regularly cripples, tortures and murders its Palestinian opposition.
- Hamas rule systematically oppresses Christians, women and homosexuals. Hamas’ charter is essentially racist and antisemitic, and calls for violent jihad until Israel is destroyed.
- Hamas represents a severely retrograde interpretation of Islam which is opposed to the Enlightenment values adopted in the West over the last several centuries, values of tolerance, democracy, equality, justice, honest scientific enquiry and liberal education. This form of Islam is also committed to violent expansion of its sphere of influence, and if allowed to flourish, promises continuous war such as that which characterized the Middle East in the Seventh Century.
The question of Hamas is the question of barbarism vs. civilization. It’s that simple.
The IDF was close to removing Hamas from power when it terminated its campaign prematurely. My guess is that this was the result of international pressure, with the new US administration at the top of the list of those applying said pressure. What a pity that the world was not prepared to allow Israel to finish what Hamas started.
Nope, instead they are going to do what the West always does: try to pay the problems to go away.
Michel announced €58 million ($74 million) in emergency aid Monday for Palestinians.
Around €32 million ($41.7 million) of the aid package will go to alleviate immediate needs in Gaza such as shortages in drinking water, food and medical supplies. Another €20 million ($26 million) will go to projects in the West Bank, the remaining €6 million ($7.8 million) to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
The European Commission last month approved €3 million ($3.9 million) in emergency aid for Gaza.
Lip service is being given to the idea that money and supplies will only be use to ameliorate living conditions and rebuild damaged civilian infrastructure, but does anyone really believe that Hamas, which tightly controls the Strip, will not divert what it wants for its own purposes?
Here’s an exercise for further thought: what prompted the international pressure? Was it the highly effective atrocity propaganda? Was it the violent demonstrations? Was it the threats coming from Saudi Arabia? Was it the general climate of Israel-hatred in Europe and on the Left in the US? Or all of the above?
What motivates civilized people to stand against civilization?
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