More on the EU's Hypocrisy, Its Violation of its Own Supposed Values

Links added 2-3-2013

Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor continues to reveal the EU's moral corruption, its interference in Israel's internal politics against the rights of Jews and the  security of Jews. The EU funded the so-called Four Mothers movement which demanded Israeli retreat from Lebanon. After PM Ehud Barak succumbed to pressure from 4 Mothers & other groups, some of them also funded by the EU, and retreated from Israel's security zone in Lebanon in 2000, the Hizbullah was empowered as a result to reinforce its control of Lebanon -- and to do one of the things it likes best, attacking  Israel and killing Jewish civilians.  Israel  was  subject after the retreat and up to the end of the 2006 war to frequent terrorist attacks, kidnappings and rocket attacks, no less than before, on the northern front. The 2nd Lebanon War of 2006 saw  nearly 4000 rockets shot at Israel, killing about 135 soldiers and civilians. The previously peaceful city of Haifa was struck by many rockets. Likewise struck were Qiryat Shmonah, 'Akko [Acre], and Nahariyah. This war was due to the retreat from the Security Zone and the consequent strengthening of Hizbullah. By the way, whereas Hizbullah had an estimated 4000 rockets during the 2006 war, it now has an estimated 60,000 rockets or more. Of course there was a UN Security Council resolution supposedly stopping the war in 2006 and telling the Hizb not to bring in more rockets and not to station its murderous militia or its weapons south of the Litani River. But the Hizb violated UN SC res 1701 with impunity.

 Many thanks due to the European Union's "peace" policy for Jewish and Lebanese suffering. Those who strive to bring "peace," often have a forked tongue.

Here are excerpts from Steinberg's op ed in HaAretz:

On 29 September 1999, a small committee of the European Commission met to allocate €5 million for "Middle East Peace Projects" to what are ostensibly non-governmental organizations (NGOs). No protocol or record was published for the public, in contrast to most meetings involving EU allocations. This committee awarded grants to a number of groups, including "The Four Mothers Movement to Leave Lebanon in Peace"(€250,000); and to Peace Now (€400,000) for, as recorded in the protocol, promoting their political agenda among "a social group that traditionally has anti-peace views and votes Likud" and among "immigrants from the former Soviet Union."

The only reason that we have this information is due to a leaked protocol from this single meeting. In the thirteen years that have followed, all documents related to EU funding for dozens of Israeli and Palestinian political NGOs have been labeled top secret - reminiscent of the most highly classified military plans and nuclear weapons designs. As a result, even members of the European Parliament are also denied substantive information.

. . . . .

What can explain this total absence of accountability, and the Court's rubber stamp approval? Perhaps EU officials fear being held responsible for wasting taxpayer funds, particularly during a deep economic crisis. While the EU funds a few political advocacy NGOs in other democracies (three in the U.S., a handful in Canada, for example – and not in secret), there is nothing comparable to the scale of its involvement in Israeli civil society. The total annual amount being channeled from the EU (including the European Instrument for Human Rights and Democracy and other frameworks), and individual governments (EU member states, [plus] Norway and Switzerland) to Israeli political advocacy groups is one of the official secrets.

. . . . .

Indeed, instead of peace, European funding has added to the violence and conflict. In 1999, the Mothers Movement used their EU grant to finance a political campaign that played a central role in the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 (in this very limited sense, the EU policy succeeded). But then Hezbollah's attacks increased, eventually leading to the 2006 war. It would not look good for EU officials to be seen as having been even partly responsible (by acting irresponsibly) for these events.

. . . . .

European officials understandably fear public criticism of their role in alienating millions of Israelis who reject the neo-colonialist effort to use groups like Peace Now to manipulate Israeli democracy. €600 million from European taxpayers allows their well-compensated lawyers and public relations firms to flood the courts with frivolous political lawsuits, and to travel around the world campaigning against Israel. This European infringement on Israeli sovereignty has become a hot issue. . . . .

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See Steinberg's full article here.

Steinberg  responds to a critic of the above article. 

LINKS ADDED 2-3-2013 
Op ed in Jerusalem Post [here]

Report on EU funding by NGO Monitor [here]

A page of links to NGO Monitor issues regarding the EU [here] -- a summary of the

UPDATING 6-9-2013 EU hides its financing for anti-peace "ngos" here.

The West Hates Jews More than It Loves Arabs -- Iranian Dissident

Afshin Ellian is an Iranian  dissident intellectual who fled his country in 1982, finally finding his way to Holland. He is now a professor of law in a Dutch university as well as a philosopher and poet. On a recent visit to Israel, he was interviewed by Dror Eydar for Israel HaYom.

He explains that the Western press habitually gives a false picture of Israel. He also points out that the West or the World is only interested in suffering Arabs when the suffering can be blamed on Jews. Otherwise, Arabs killing Arabs is considered natural.
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"It was an amazing experience to see Jerusalem. I now see how much Israel's image is warped by Western media. This is a multicultural society, with normal people, working people. Western journalists say that Israel is an occupier, that Israel is evil, and that it deploys heavy weapons against the Palestinians. But that is not the whole reality of Israel. Look at Tel Aviv. It is a very normal city just like The Hague, just like Amsterdam. Israel is the one spot of abnormality in the Middle East. At the same time it is like Europe at the heart of the region. I can understand why Israel arouses such fury among radical Muslims.

"I visited many Arab villages as well as the city of Haifa. . . ."

. . . .

Q: Indeed, why is it that when Arabs slaughter Arabs the world is silent but when Jews arise to defend themselves, the whole world jumps up in condemnation?

"Neither the Western media nor the Arab countries are interested in the Palestinians. At this very moment, many Muslims are being killed in Syria, in Iraq, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, but they do not receive the focus of attention. The focus is the enemy, the State of Israel, the Jewish people. Unfortunately, many European politicians have adopted the Western journalists' outlook on the conflict. The military operation [Pillar of Defense] that took place recently here was neither a major conflict nor a major tragedy. The real problem was, and is, in Syria, in Damascus, where [Syrian President Bashar] Assad has bombed hospitals and is killing his people. There a humanitarian disaster is unfolding.

"The West considers it 'natural' for Arabs to kill Arabs. In regard to the Jews, it seems that the Western world is fixated with the eternal image of the crucified Jew, and is unable to replace it with someone who bears arms to defend himself, resolute not to be crucified again. Incidentally, since the Shia came to power in 1503, all minorities in Iran, especially the Jews, were severely persecuted.

"Perhaps every nation, each culture, needs some eternal fictitious enemy. Not a political enemy, because at the end of the day you can speak with them, negotiate with them. But a fictitious enemy is an eternal one. Without the state of Israel, the Iranians would have to turn to Allah in prayer for guidance. The Iranians need Israel. Without you the Iranian regime is nothing, an empty shell. This is now Iran's nucleus of identity."
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Whole interview is here.

Hizbullah Seizes & Robs Four Italian Journalists -- Tsipi Livni to Blame

Another success for our semi-retarded former foreign minister, Tsipi Livni. She was the one who negotiated Security Council res. 1701 which supposedly ended the 2006 war in Lebanon. But, thanks to Livni as well as Western & Arab diplomats, that resolution was as full of holes as a Swiss cheese. The Hizbullah, not the UN force in Lebanon --UNIFIL-- nor the Lebanese army control the border zone. The Hizb rules there. Today they seized and robbed four Italian journalists who were being escorted by Italian troops attached to UNIFIL. That is, the Hizb does what it wants in the area of Lebanon along Israel's border, going so far as to sequester and rob journalists supposedly under UNIFIL protection.

Various articles report that four Italian journalists, two from Il Resto del Carlino and two others were stopped by Hizbullah forces at the village of Aita al-Sha`ab in south Lebanon a few kilometers from the Israeli border, whereas the border zone was to be free of Hizbullah forces according to the SC res. 1701. Only UNIFIL and Lebanese forces army forces were allowed to be there. But that was all on paper. In fact, Hizbullah rules the border zone and has for most of the time since the end of the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

The journalists were held and robbed of their mobile phones and their cameras. They were released but only after more than an hour --and without their phones and cameras and other equipment. The UN troops escorting them were released too. That's the success of SC res 1701. That is the worth of a UN Security Council resolution.

The article below is from Il Resto del Carlino of today. A link to a report in Il Giornale follows. Tsipi Livni who was foreign minister at the time in Olmert's govt, negotiated this disastrous resolution. She is now running as head of  a new party that she calls HaTenu`ah, The Movement. I won't speculate on what sort of movement she has in mind, backwards or forwards or downwards or whatever. But the main theme of her party's campaign is hatred of PM Netanyahu. Just what she and her party would do if they took power [unlikely] is unclear. They don't have a serious program for social or economic betterment, but their anti-Netanyahu stance is meant to fit in with US and European and Arab positions in favor of Israeli surrender and allowing the PLO/PA to violate its signed commitments.

Libano, sequestrati e rapinati giornalisti e fotoreporter bolognesi

Bloccati a bordo di un camion in un’area a maggioranza Hezbollah

Lo speciale: Brigata Friuli, diario dal Libano

I nostri collaboratori Mario Rebeschini e Rossella Santosuosso sono stati nelle mani dei banditi insieme con i colleghi Elisa Murgesee Gianfranco Salvatori. Liberati dopo oltre un'ora

Rossella Santosuosso ed Elisa Murgese (Foto di Mario Rebeschini)

Bologna, 7 gennaio 2013 - PAURA per un gruppo di giornalisti e fotoreporter in Libano. Nel giorno dell’Epifania, intorno alle 13, i quattro sono stati sequestrati e rapinati. Tra loro ci sono due bolognesi: i nostri collaboratori Mario Rebeschini e Rossella Santosuosso. «Al rientro dai riti greco cattolico romano e cristiano maroniti per ricordare l’Epifania — racconta il fotografo Mario Rebeschini — i due mezzi di scorta Unifil (United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon; ndr) di base a Shama, che ci accompagnavano, è stato bloccato da un gruppo di libanesi in un’area in maggioranza Hezbollah. Senza tanti complimenti noi, i militari e l’ufficiale di scorta siamo stati costretti a scendere dai camion e rapinati di cellulati, registratori e macchine fotografiche». Gli altri giornalisti sono Elisa Murgese e Gianfranco Salvatori. Dopo oltre un’ora di sequestro e l’arrivo di una pattuglia della Laf, le forze armate libanesi, e ripuliti di quanto avevano i quattro giornalisti sono stati tutti rilasciati e hanno fatto rientro nella base di Shama sani e salvi
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Here's the report in Il Giornale.

European Union Violates Its Ostensible Principles

At bottom, link added 1-8-2013, UPDATING 6-9-2013
  
Anti-Zionism is the anti-imperialism of fools.
Eliyahu m'Tsiyon

Europe, and the European Union within it, have played a central role in the acts of treachery against Israel and the Jews, some of them described in the three previous posts and to be described in Part IV of the Broken Promises series. Of course, the EU regularly violates the lofty principles on which it supposedly stands. For almost three years it has been quite flagrantly violating the principle of solidarity among the peoples of the Union in the case of Greece where EU stinginess  toward suffering Euro brethren is frankly shocking. While stingy with their Greek brethren, whose living standards have been forced down severely by the demands of the EU and its ECB [European Central Bank] and of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] --even to the point of cutting health benefits & funds for medicines-- the EU keeps on funding the "Palestinian Authority" with about 1/2 billion euros per year, plus grants from EU member states  and special grants for various projects. Much of the money goes into the pockets of PA leaders and officials and into the pockets of their families. The PA schools and communications media constantly make genocidal hate indoctrination, propaganda and incitement against Israel and all Jews. This use of EU funds does not lead to a reduction in funding, whereas funds given to Greece on account of its economic crisis are closely supervised and sometime funds  are withheld. This does not happen to the PA.


Another principle violated is transparency in the work of the EU itself. The lack of transparency is strikingly evident in the EU's attitude toward Israel, the collective Jew, whereas in fact Jews have been the target of Euro hatred since the Roman Empire.Transparency is necessary for real democratic government. The EU lacks transparency, inter alia, in the way it allocates its funding for anti-Israel so-called "non-governmental organizations" [NGOs]. The recent case of NGO Monitor's efforts to get real information out of the EU about which "NGOs" the EU is to fund and on what grounds is instructive. Obviously, the EU does not want peace between Israel and the Arabs but I will go into that another time.

Here is NGO Monitor's account of how the EU shamelessly violates its own principle of transparency, with the approval of the so-called European Court of Justice.

EU Court Decision on NGO Monitor Case Highlights EU’s Secrecy

NGO Monitor December 27, 2012
On November 27, 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled on an NGO Monitor petition concerning the EU’s lack of transparency in its NGO funding practices. The court found that the EU did not provide documents requested by NGO Monitor in a timely fashion, and that this “must be regarded as an implicit decision to refuse access.” However, it also upheld the denial of access, essentially permitting the EU to hide its NGO decision making from the public.

Background

The European Union funnels tens of millions of taxpayer euros to political advocacy NGOs every year. Many of these groups engage in campaigns and activities that are entirely inconsistent with declared European foreign policy; the activities include BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions), “one state” proposals, anti-normalization with Israel campaigns, and abusing the courts through frivolous “war crimes” cases. Not only do these activities contradict European policies, but they promote conflict and violence.

Moreover, the available evidence suggests that the EU has been unethically seeking to manipulate Israeli democracy by funding political advocacy NGOs such as Adalah, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), Mossawa, Machsom Watch, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). Due to EU secrecy, the only available non-censored document is a leaked protocol from a meeting on NGO funding from 1999. This shows an explicit and concerted plan to support NGOs in an effort to manipulate Israeli voting patterns.
 
For the past decade, NGO Monitor has attempted to systematically track this funding, to allow European taxpayers, officials, Israelis, and Palestinians to independently evaluate and respond. As part of that process, in 2008, NGO Monitor submitted a detailed request to the EU, asking for documents related to this funding (under the EU’s Freedom of Information Law – FOI). After delaying compliance with the law for more than six months, the EU provided NGO Monitor with documents that were heavily redacted and whited out, essentially covering up all relevant information under the purported rationale of national security and proprietary interests.

Under the procedure mandated by the FOI law, NGO Monitor, represented by Asserson Law Offices, next turned to the European Court of Justice seeking compliance. The NGO Monitor petition noted that the EU was blocking independent evaluation of its NGO funding decisions, and preventing the public from knowing whether its practices are consistent with due process of law. In its response to the court, the European Commission admitted that officials had censored the meaningful details, including “the conclusions of the monitoring” and “the conclusions of the audit[s],” as well as “additional remarks” made by evaluators. The court also found that the EU did not provide the documents in a timely fashion, and that this ‘must be regarded as an implicit decision to refuse access.”

In direct contradiction, however, the court upheld the denial of access, and issued a decision without taking evidence or conducting hearings on NGO Monitor’s petition, nor providing NGO Monitor an opportunity to appear before the Court. This procedure is highly irregular, and highlights the degree to which the EU fears public release of the protocols for NGO funding decisions.
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The boldface emphasis is my own. The full account is here. Also see this report on the EU-NGO relationship.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor draws conclusions about the EU's surreptitious conduct regarding its subsidies to so-called "NGOs" in an op ed in HaArets. [so-called "NGOs" because they are not "non-governmental organizations" but rather are funded by governments and associations of governments such as the EU].  
More on EU funding thwarting peace from NGOMonitor here.

Part IV of the series "Another Broken Promise Made to Jews" will come soon.