Thursday, 9 June 2016

Why Is Europe So Reluctant to Challenge Israel’s Destruction of EU-Funded Projects?

[ Ed. note – As the US continues to give Israel billions of dollars a year, Israel continues to destroy EU-funded projects in Occupied Palestine, projects designed to maintain essential public services such as sewage plants, schools, and children’s playgrounds. Meanwhile, politicians in both Europe and America work to get laws passed that wouldcriminalize anyone advocating a boycott of the Zionist state. Memory is a stranger, history is for fools. As Roger Waters said, ‘It all makes perfect sense.”
By the way, you can go here to access the full report, “Squandered Aid: Israel’s Repetitive Destruction of EU-Funded Projects in Palestine.”  A brief passage : “On 29 February, 2016, Israeli authorities dismantled a Dutch-funded farming project in Area C near the Jordan River. The agricultural project, in which the Netherlands had invested €10 million, taught Palestinians how to use the land to grow crops. All of the project’s infrastructure, including tools and sheds, was removed by Israel. Diplomatic sources argued the act was a form of revenge for the EU’s decision to label products from Israeli settlements.” ]
By Ramona Wadi
A new report issued this month by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) is called, “Squandered Aid: Israel’s repetitive destruction of EU-funded projects in Palestine”. The report imparts the obvious dissonance which characterises such violent cycles towards the end of its analysis. It is unfortunate that the tone employed detracts from the necessity to adopt a different stance with the intention to alter the dismal reality, rather than contemplating a widely-disseminated and accepted tone of resigned futility.
Prior to listing its recommendations, the report states: “The United Nations, the EU and countries that finance reconstruction projects, particularly in Gaza, understandably are concerned that any new investment will prove futile if the underlying causes of the conflict are not addressed.” This remark summarises a quote used in the report by an unnamed European diplomat who admitted that, “All we help to rebuild is going to be destroyed again… We need a fundamental change in the situation so that we do not repeat what continues to happen.” In short, the EU and other donors build; Israel destroys.
Yesterday I put up a post on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his recent efforts to criminalize the BDS movement. Cuomo supposedly is of Italian descent. One might be forgiven for forming the opinion that his main constituents, however, are Jews. While New York does have the highest percentage of Jews of any state in the union, still the total is only 8.9 percent. You would never know it from the following photos:
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New York governor shows his support for Israel
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New York governor visiting Israel in 2014
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Wailing for Palestinians–not. New York governor has a good wail at the wall.
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“And right over here is where we carried out another massacre…”
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Cuomo and other New York officials meet with Boss Bibi. The man on the far right is former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Last year Silver was convicted on federal corruption charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
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Cuomo gives a talk at a yesiva in Brooklyn.
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Cuomo signs executive order ending state business with companies supporting BDS.
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New York governor hung over from too much celebrating

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
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