The EU vs Israel:

The EU’s Discrimination Against Israel

By Joseph Puder

The European Union (EU) discriminating policies against Israel are not new. The EU court approved the labeling of products from Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. This labeling is reminiscent of the “Yellow Star of David” Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and in Nazi occupied Europe. Israel considers the EU court decision to be unfair and discriminatory. It pointed out that other countries involved in land disputes are not similarly sanctioned. Now the EU has come up with a new discriminating formula in which to single out Israel. It is spelled by the EU as “housing demolitions” in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria for most Israelis).

According to Professor Hillel Frisch of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, “Entering the phrase ‘housing demolition’ in the EU’s official website yields a shocking result: 18 of the first documents to appear concern Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. In other words, 80% of the EU reports on this worldwide phenomenon involve a population and an area less than one-tenth of 1% of the world’s population or landmass.”

Ironically, an EU report from 2005, acknowledge widespread discriminatory demolition and eviction within the EU against Gypsy, Roma, and Sinti populations in such countries as Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Portugal. Housing demolition as a punitive practice occurs throughout the world. India accuses Pakistan of the practice in Hindu areas in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Egypt evicted thousands of Bedouins in the Sinai to clear the way for housing projects for Egyptians from outside the Sinai Peninsula. In the U.S., likewise, evictions and demolition of homes occur for the purpose of urban renewal.

Israel has continued a practice that dates back to the British Mandate, when British authorities demolished homes of terrorists. Israel has continued the practice as a deterrent against would be terrorists. These terror practitioners know that it would cost their family their home. Moreover, Israel, in following the rule-of-law, has the right to demolish illegally built homes whether the occupants are Arab-Palestinians or Jews.

The EU funded what clearly amounted to efforts to thwart Israel’s plan to construct the E-1 project, which would provide residential continuity between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem. The illegal Ras Shahadah apartment project was meant to build hundreds of apartments in northern Jerusalem, without being approved by the Jerusalem municipality. Its aim was to create Arab-Palestinian residential continuity between northern and southern parts of the West Bank

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced Israel’s intention to extend Israeli sovereignty to the Jewish communities in the Jordan Valley. The immediate reaction was that the governments of France, Ireland, and Luxembourg pressed the EU to adopt punitive measures against Israel. In Britain, 127 members of Parliament urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose sanctions should Israel go ahead with its sovereignty declaration.

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