Thursday, April 25, 2002

For those who say Europe never lives up to it WWII actions. Gerhard Schroeder while speaking to German Parliment about the lifting of arms sales restrictions to Israel:

"This also means that, given our special historic responsibility, no embargo measures against Israel will be agreed to or backed," "Israel will get what it needs for its security and it will get it when it needs it,"

He also stood up for Israels place in the Middle East:
"It is important for me to stress that in this region there are not terribly many democracies which function [like Israel's]," Schroeder said. "This is a further reason, aside from historical responsibilities, for our close, inseparable political relations."

I wonder if this was facilitated by the weekend results in France. Schroeder is facing tougher competition than he expected and may be looking to make some strong statements that will have the backing of the core voters.

And of course the Council of Europe was Durban Lite. The assembly is to vote Thursday on a proposal submitted by a Dutch socialist legislator calling for European countries to impose an arms embargo on Israel. A French representative has proposed the Council of Europe commission prepare a special report on Israel's action in the territories, with a focus on human rights. Another proposal slated to come before the plenary session would warn Israel that its observer status would be suspended if it violates human rights and blocks international humanitarian efforts.

The representatives of Poland and Spain compared the resistance of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp to the Jewish revolt in the besieged Warsaw ghetto 60 years ago.

That is just sickening. How people don't understand the difference when making statements like this is beyond me. The Jews in Warsaw were trying to save themselves from extermination. Hamas, Hizbollah, al-Aqsa, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat are not protecting themselves from extermination. Their goal is extermination. A quick glance their creeds and actions should be enough to disabuse anyone of the notion that it is the Israelis who are bent on religious cleansing. Arafat proved it by his actions in Lebanon.

< email | 4/25/2002 10:09:00 AM | link

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