Israel’s Knesset erupted in chaos when the President of the European Parliament, Martin Shultz, stood at the podium and told Israel’s lawmakers that they were depriving Palestinian of water.
He questioned why Israelis can use 70 liters of water while a Palestinian can only use 17. These are grossly false figures.
That is not the point. The point is that someone as high as the European parliamentary president can stand at the podium in the home of Israeli democracy and throw such ridiculous figures at Israeli lawmakers is an insult. Shultz made his statement even more appalling when he excused himself by explaining that he got these figures from a Palestinian boy. Has the European Union become so obsessed with accusing Israel of all the perceived crimes under the sun that their parliamentary leader now hurls an Arab boy’s lies at the Jewish state? Actually, yes. That is where we are right now.
Shultz is not the first to have jaundiced political views about Israel that are tainted with the adoption of a malevolent Palestinian narrative. We have recently witnessed similar manifestations emanating from Oxfam, the British Methodists, and various academic bodies. No doubt we will see many more such vile accusations hurled at Israel in the future for the diseased propaganda of the extremist anti-Israel activists, couched in seductive language, has, indeed, been adopted by the misguided useful idiots in Brussels and other European capitals who are only too keen to finance the festering campaigns against Israel as if they are formed in purity.
Perhaps the most significant part of Shultz's absurd comments is that it exposed how susceptible the highest people in the European Union and leading politicians are to the false and blatant propaganda claims of radical groups, like BDS and other sponsored NGOs, and how easily and naively they accept ridiculous claims and adopt them as truths etched in tablets of stone brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses himself.
Fraudulent Palestinian narrative
The Israeli voice may be missing when it comes to efficient public diplomacy, but it is truly shocking to discover the inroads that extreme anti-Israel groups have made in the highest political circles of Europe that an important and leading figure, such as Shultz, can accept patently false statements and quote them at a state event in the heart of Israel.
Europe has fallen foul to the hyper-active propaganda machine that targets Israel. Is Europe naïve, or are they really ready to use such inappropriate measures as part of their pressure to get Israel to make dangerous risks for peace?
It’s not acceptable for people like Shultz or Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the head of the EU Delegation to Israel, to tell us how friendly they are to Israel, and then hit us with a fraudulent Palestinian narrative. On the contrary, they should censure the Palestinians for sponsoring and promoting a message of demonization in their apparently successful attempt to get European and other nations to sanction, boycott, and delegitimize Israel with tales of fiction and falsehood. They should also demand transparency and threaten withdrawal of funding from groups that spin their web of hate against Israel. They should also temper their language and stop using false terms such as “illegal settlements,” and “occupied Palestinian land,” when discussing the Israeli-Palestinian issue or speaking about disputed territories.
If Schultz’s officially embarrassing faux pas make European politicians and diplomats take stock and reconsider their tactics, his ridiculous and insulting remarks may have a benefit to both sides.
If it does not, then Europe has no future role in negotiations or peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
My opinion was formed from living in Israel, witnessing the horror of terror, reading the misinformation and downright lies perpetrated by the Western media, seen the incompetence of Israeli leaders to project the facts. My website comes from a particularly personal perspective. The articles may be controversial and provocative. For whatever strikes Israel today will surely visit you tomorrow.
