The European Union Commission’s war against Israel

Moreover, according to EUC spokespeople, the EUC supports “non-military” branches of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria through transfers of funds to those governments.

By MOSHE DANN
European Union flags flutter as people take part in the demonstration "One Europe for all", a rally against nationalism across the European Union, in Vienna, Austria, May 19, 2019. (photo credit: LISI NIESNER)
European Union flags flutter as people take part in the demonstration "One Europe for all", a rally against nationalism across the European Union, in Vienna, Austria, May 19, 2019.
(photo credit: LISI NIESNER)
According to the European Union Commission’s website, during the last decade the EUC has given over two billion euros to Palestinians in the “West Bank” and the Gaza Strip. This does not include extra payments for health, welfare and education, and legal services to assist claims against Israel. Additionally, the EUC is funding illegal Arab building in Area C, which is under Israeli control via the authority of the IDF and its civilian branch, COGAT. This includes assistance to Palestinian Authority residents who infiltrate into Area C and build illegal homes in Arab villages.
The EUC’s stated purpose is to promote an independent sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1949 Armistice lines (the “two-state-solution”) and “end the occupation of Palestinian territory.” Oblivious of the fact that the PLO/PA and Hamas are corrupt, brutal dictatorships which support and engage in terrorism, the question is:  Why does the EUC waste so much money to advance a goal – Palestinian statehood – which threatens the State of Israel? Is the European community using Arab Palestinians as proxies in a renewed attempt to wipe out as many Jews as possible in Israel? Are EUC policies intended to promote eliminating Israel and genocide? 
Moreover, according to EUC spokespeople, the EUC supports “non-military” branches of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria through transfers of funds to those governments. There is, unfortunately, no accountability for how these funds are used.
The EUC considers the projects which it funds to be “humanitarian,” helping poor people improve their lives. But a visitor to the areas under PLO/PA and Hamas control will observe most people driving late-model cars, building homes and multi-story buildings, well-stocked stores and a thriving economy. New mosques are everywhere. Most are employed, either locally, or in Israel, but pay no taxes, so municipal services in Arab villages are often inadequate. Hamas has sufficient funds to build attack tunnels and to launch rockets, missiles and arson balloons. Fresh, clean water is not abundant in Gaza, but Hamas has rejected Israeli offers to build water purification facilities and desalination plants.
The EUC is the largest donor to UNRWA, a terrorist-supporting, anti-Israel and antisemitic UN organization. As Khaled Abu Toameh wrote (“No need for UNRWA,” The Jerusalem Post, August 18, 2019), “UNRWA is a political tool against Israel.” Palestinians (UNRWA residents) in Lebanon, he wrote, are denied citizenship, access to many professions, and an opportunity to better their lives; they are “excluded from key facets of social, political and economic life” (“Palestinian Victims of Arab Discrimination,” Gatestone, August 24, 2019). 
More problematic, however, is the effect of EUC’s political objectives. Promoting a Palestinian state along the 1949 Armistice lines encourages those who seek Israel’s demise by forcing Israel to retreat to what the late foreign minister of Israel, Abba Eban, called “Auschwitz borders.” It would render Israel vulnerable to attacks and cripple its ability to fight terrorism. As a sovereign state ruled by a dictatorial regime under PLO/PA/Hamas, Jihadists from around the world would flock to “Palestine,” assisted by Iranian-backed Hezbollah and ISIS-affiliated militants, to carry out their “final solution,” the “liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” the elimination of Israel.
The EUC’s political agenda, therefore, is not only anti-Israel; it is antisemitic. It encourages anti-Israel and antisemitic organizations and groups, such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to “end the occupation” – not only “the occupation” that was the result of the 1967 Six Day War, but “the Nakba” (catastrophe), the establishment of Israel in 1948 and “the occupation” that was the result of the genocidal war which the Arab world declared in 1948 to wipe out Israel. The EUC’s efforts, supported by many in the international community, therefore, promote what could become – God forbid – another Holocaust.
The author is a PhD historian, writer and journalist in Israel, and a research associate at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.