Brussels – European Union leaders on Wednesday called on Israelis and Palestinians to end violence and said they welcomed efforts, particularly from Egypt, to broker a cease-fire following more than a week of warfare.
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The leaders, meeting in Brussels, urged both sides to “de-escalate the situation, to end the violence, to end the suffering of the civilian populations notably by allowing access to humanitarian assistance, and return to calm.”
In a statement, the EU leaders welcomed Egypt’s efforts to mediate and called on the Islamic Hamas, which rules Gaza, to agree to a cease-fire.
The EU leaders condemned the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
Israel has a right to protect its population from these attacks, but it must act proportionately and ensure the protection of civilians, they said.
The EU “deeply deplores the loss of innocent lives and the high number of wounded civilians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli military operations and is deeply concerned about the rapid and dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation,” the statement said.
Gaza health officials said 207 Palestinians, most of them civilians, had been killed in air and naval barrages, in the worst flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence in two years.
One Israeli has been killed by shelling from Gaza that has made a race to shelter a daily routine for hundreds of thousands in Israel.
I wish the UN and the EU and the US would specify exactly what they would like Israel to do.
I’m just curious as to what exactly is their advice….
Like, how precisely would they handle the situation if they were in Israel’s shoes?
I’m puzzled. (Actually I’m not. I just would love to know what they would verbally suggest…)
Canadian Prime Minister Condemns Obama, West for Not Supporting Israel
In a stunning rebuke of President Obama’s tepid calls for Israel to show “restraint” in response to daily rocket fire on Israeli civilian targets by Hamas terror redoubts in Gaza, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, long considered Israel’s best friend and strongest defender, all but condemned President Obama by name for what he regards as Washington’s irresolute support for Israel during its time of grave crisis.
In perhaps his most strongly worded statement to date, Prime Minister Harper proclaimed that self defense is “not merely an Israeli right” to be exercised only in the abstract, but an “Israeli obligation” that must be defended by all Western nations.
“Failure by the international community to condemn these reprehensible actions will encourage these terrorists to continue their appalling actions,’’ Harper said in a rare Sunday statement. “Canada calls on its allies and partners to recognize that these terrorist acts [by Hamas] are unacceptable and that solidarity with Israel is the best way of stopping the conflict.”
Forget about the U.S.-Israel relationship being the bulwark of Israeli security, say some. Israel’s best friend and staunchest defender is no longer found in Washington, but rather in Ottawa.
Ending the war does not require Israeli “restraint,” implies Harper. It demands the world declare that sole responsibility for the terror of violence belongs with the terrorists. It is Hamas, claims Harper, that is entirely responsible for the current Israel-Hamas war. “It is evident,” Harper asserts, “that Hamas is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region,’’ and he takes several swipes at the United Nations and the “international community” for calling for Israeli restraint in the face of escalating rocket fire aimed at murdering and maiming Israeli civilians.
“Canada mourns the death and suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza. Responsibility rests solely with Hamas and its allies, who launched and continue to feed this crisis,’’ he said.
Harper rejects outright calls coming from both the White House and the UN that Israel agree to a negotiated ceasefire with Hamas. Not only should Israel not agree to a ceasefire, says Harper, Israel should continue her offensive until the Iranian-backed terror group is “massively degraded,” if not eliminated entirely. “Indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification.”
Next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has clearly emerged as Israel’s strongest and most unapologetic defender.
Speaking for Prime Minister Harper and Canada’s government, Foreign Minister Baird vocalizes things that Israel supporters no longer even fantasize about hearing from Washington, such as, “There is no moral equivalency between a democratic state and a terrorist organization” and that “Hamas militants hiding within its civilian population is abominable.”
Even more encouraging to Israel supporters may be that Prime Minister Harper’s full-throated support of Israel might be creating an all-party, transnational consensus on Canada’s Middle East policy. Although Canada’s two main opposition parties have adopted positions more in line with those taken by other Western nations, neither Labour nor the even farther-left New Democratic Party has publicly challenged the government’s position. And that may mark a sea change in the country’s Middle East position, which is less and less a conservative position and increasingly an all-party consensus.
unbelievable when you look really in the eyes of the Americans how they treat Israel they still have the guts to call Americans partners. people say it’s a מלכות של חסד but I can say one thing it’s definitely not a מלכות” של רחמים”
friends like this who needs enemies
“but it must act proportionately.” Ha! Ha?
When Chamas starts up they “act proportionately” to what???
Why does the reaction have to be proportionately, and the action that trigers the reaction, not??? They don’t get it???
As usual, the dumb remark here just keep on coming. Obama “despises us and everything we stand for”? Why — because he doesn’t have a great personal relationship with Bibi? Neither do most Israeli politicians, including from Bib’s own party. Because Obama’s stance on settlements is exactly the same as every U.S. president since 1967? Meanwhile, U.S.-Israeli intelligence sharing and military aid/cooperation are at all-time highs under Obama, who, by the way, declared at the United Nations last year that Israel is a Jewish state — something no previous president had ever done. And that ridiculous statement by comment 4 about how badly the U.S. treats Israel — who do you think funded and developed the Iron Dome, genius? Most of the research and development and ALL of the funding came from the U.S.. Talk about a lack of hakaras hatov on your part.
Act proportionately. OK, so for every missile launched into Israel, Israel gets to launch one into Gaza. Fair?
Proportionality is a slippery slope. When the stakes are existential, as in an individual dies, what does proportionality even mean? It’s arithmetic, and this conflict cannot be reduced to a subjective formula. It’s war, and that means winner take all. Not proportional, because…it’s not.