Israeli President Isaac Herzog landed in Belgium mid-morning Wednesday on an official visit to the European Union (E.U.), where he will speak on behalf of the State of Israel before the European Parliament on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In a packed schedule, he will meet with King Philippe of Belgium, the President of the European Commission, the NATO Secretary-General and representatives of NATO member-states, members of the Brussels and Antwerp Jewish communities. He will also visit a Jewish school.
Of this visit, Herzog said, “At all these places, I shall of course raise the enormous challenge facing us and the whole Middle East in the form of Iran, which is racing toward nuclear weapons, using terror throughout the Middle East, and supplying weapons used against the Ukrainian people. I shall also raise the issue of the hostages and MIAs, our sons, whom we call for Hamas to release immediately and return to Israel. Thank you very much.”
Something is missing here.
Is Herzog going to raise the issue of E.U. subversion of Israel’s sovereignty and its complicity in the violation of the Oslo Accords, a contract that created the Palestinian Authority (P.A.)? Is he going to express anger—or at least diplomatically express Israel’s “displeasure”—with how the E.U. and some individual European member-states are providing the financial means by which the P.A. can conduct its silent war against Israel?
The crimes abetted by the E.U. are finally being reported by Israeli mainstream media after decades of tireless effort on the part of pro-Zionist NGOs (to distinguish them from anti-Zionist NGOs that support those offenses). Regavim and Ad Kan are two of these pro-Zionist NGOs.
Naomi Kahn, Director of Regavim’s International Division, tweeted that, rather than the E.U. being led or (“misled” if we want to be generous about it) by the P.A. in stealing Israeli land in Area C, “EU countries are leading the way! They are funding, supporting, & pushing for the Palestinian takeover.”
Without even applying for permits, they build schools on Israeli state land, around which previously nonexistent villages can be constructed; Arabs are then uprooted from their permanent homes and sent to populate them in order to put a stranglehold on Israeli communities. Of course, access roads need to be built and these, too, are funded by Europeans. When Israel seeks to demolish these illegal constructions, massive propaganda campaigns are launched against Israel, accusing her of ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Furthermore, in an interview with JNS, Kahn discussed the “wholesale destruction of Jewish antiquities and heritage sites in Judea and Samaria conducted by the Palestinian Authority as an official policy. . . . The P.A.’s criminal efforts are guided and aided openly by the European Union and UNESCO.”
While in Belgium, will Herzog at least ask them about this?
According to Israel National News, Ad Kan “revealed that in the last four years, hundreds of architects, land planners and officials from the Palestinian Authority are being funded by the European Union and World Bank to create a new land registry . . . [for] the entire Judea and Samaria region with complete disregard of past land holding and ownership.” This means that Israeli state land and land legally purchased by Jews will not be registered in the new registry, one that will override the official Israeli and Jordanian registries.
This blatant violation of the Oslo Accords will provide the documentation Israeli courts now need to “prove” land ownership when contesting Jewish land use in Area C. In the past, land disputes were raised in the Supreme Court and no deeds were required. It was sufficient to declare that the land had been in the family for generations. Unless air photos were able to prove that the land was unsettled and untilled prior to the contested time period, the court accepted the claim made by the Arab P.A. resident. Since the law governing land claims has been changed, the E.U. and World Bank have provided the means by which the P.A. can make up documentation and it is unclear whether or not the Israeli courts will be able to negate these documents.
While in Belgium, will Herzog at least ask them about this?
There is, of course, no need to fly to Brussels to question the European leadership about this. The telephone, emails and online digital meeting apps work just fine. But perhaps the president will use his private sessions there with the leadership to put it to them clearly that Israel will no longer turn a blind eye to their support of the silent war against Israel.
Were he to publicize this as one of the features of his visit to the E.U., it would certainly be a welcome move. But, unlike the Europeans, who have no qualms about publicly delegitimizing Israel, we Israelis are so diplomatic that our leaders do not openly say anything that might hurt their feelings. We can only hope that President Herzog sees fit to criticize them in person and in private.
