Brussels, April 8th, 2022 – European Coalition for Israel condemns the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Israel where thirteen people have been killed within the last three weeks by Palestinian terrorists. On Thursday evening two civilians were gunned down and numerous others injured as an Islamist terrorist opened fire at a café in downtown Tel Aviv. One of the victims, Eytam Magini, had just proposed to his girlfriend and they were planning for their engagement party the next day. Instead, his family members will now be attending a funeral.
“Why is it that European media gives so little attention to the on-going slaughter of innocent civilians in Israel,” ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell asked on Friday. “As Europeans we have a responsibility to speak out when these barbaric killings of Jews, just because they are Jews, continue more than seventy-five years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe. Why is it that the descendants of those Jews who survived the Holocaust can still not live in peace and security in their own country,” he asked but continued, “these murderous attacks do not happen by chance. They are planted as evil seeds in the hearts and minds of young men by hate speech and antisemitic propaganda embedded in Palestinian schoolbooks and media as well as in places of worship and are supported by international campaigns to demonize Israeli Jews.”
Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet named the 28-year perpetrator as Raad Hazem and said that he was residing in Israel without a permit. His father, who is an ex-officer in the Palestinian Authorities security forces, praised his son saying, “God liberate Al-Aqsa.”
“Now it is high time for the European governments to stop funding any Palestinian institution which is part of this propaganda machine,” Sandell said. ECI commends the European Parliament Budgetary Committee for raising awareness of these problems and for demanding conditionality on any EU funding to the Palestinian Authority.
Senior foreign officials and ambassadors to Israel condemned the deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday night. “My solidarity is with the people of Israel, who have every right to live their lives free from terror and fear,” tweeted German Ambassador to Israel Susanne Wasum-Rainer, saying, “We stand by your side.”
In a rare statement, even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack by saying that the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads to further deterioration as efforts are made to ensure stability during the month of Ramadan and ahead of the Jewish and Christian holidays.