Jerusalem, June 9th, 2016 – Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has praised the terrorist attack last night in Tel Aviv as a “heroic” act and added that he prays for the “hero’s” soul. This is Hamas, a terrorist organisation, but what about the Palestinian Authority, which receives EU funding and is the peace partner that the EU expects Israel to negotiate with?
The Palestinian Authority’s political party, Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, chose to make a statement this morning that says that Israel was “reaping the repercussions” of its actions, i.e. Israel was to blame. Terrorist attacks, no matter how horrific, are never condemned; terrorists have schools and streets named after them.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced outrage at Hamas’s celebration of the shooting, saying in a statement that he was “shocked that the leaders of Hamas have chosen to welcome this attack and some have chosen to celebrate it.” But, what about the Palestinian Authority’s justification of violence? Will the UN Secretary General condemn that too?
The European Coalition for Israel recently presented a report to the EU’s diplomatic service, EEAS, highlighting the issue of EU funding being used by the PA for further radicalisation and payments to prisoners who are convicted of terrorism charges and the need for this funding to be made conditional on the PA ceasing all forms of incitement and the payments to terrorism.
ECI director Tomas Sandell is currently in Jerusalem and has conveyed his condolences to the Israeli government. In a separate message to the EU ambassador to Israel, Mr Lars Faaborg-Andersen he has repeated the ECI demand that EU funding to the PA be frozen until the PA leadership clearly condemn these acts of terrorism.