'Israel' blocks EU’s foreign policy chief from visiting
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This move comes after Borrell's speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday regarding "the degradation of democracy in Israel."
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Josep Borrell Fontelles the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy speaks with Members of the European Parliament during the question times about the Trans-Atlantic Ties, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in Strasbourg, eastern France (AP)
The Israeli Foreign Minister reportedly blocked the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell from visiting the occupation due to his recent comments about "Israel" and the pending Netanyahu government judicial reforms.
Borrell voiced concerns on Tuesday over the Israeli government's planned judicial reform. He also published an article last week, in which he compared Israeli settlers' attacks in the occupied West Bank to what he claimed to be "Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis."
He also criticized Israeli military operations that "frequently cause civilian Palestinian deaths, often without effective accountability" as well as "illegal settlements" that are "expanding on occupied land." "There's no reason to reward him for his conduct," an official in the foreign ministry was cited saying by Israeli media.
The Israeli move comes after Borrell on Tuesday addressed the European Parliament during a special session on "the deterioration of democracy in Israel" amid the ongoing protests against the judicial overhaul.
He emphasized that the EU does not plan to interfere in internal Israeli politics, but "is finally empowered to discuss these dynamics and to understand what happens there with respect to our perception of values and interests in the region."
Read next: All Israeli settlements are illegal, they must stop: UN Chief
During a phone conversation with Borrell on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Minister condemned both his comments and the EU session. “There’s no place for any comparison between Israeli terror victims and Palestinian terrorists supported by the Palestinian Authority,” Eli Cohen said.
“The intervention of the European Union in Israeli internal politics and the financing of Palestinian activities that encourage incitement and payments to terrorist families must stop,” he stressed.
Earlier today, several EU member states, as well as the UK, denounced the Knesset's approval of a bill that will allow Israeli settlers to return to areas across the West Bank that were previously evacuated as part of the 2005 Israeli-known Disengagement Law, which represented the liberation of Gaza and the partial liberation of the West Bank.
The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced the Knesset's decision and called on the international community to denounce the bill as well and to pressure the Israeli government to back down from the decision. “Proceeding with steps to enact this legislation is a dangerous escalation in the conflict and a belittling of the efforts exerted to reduce tension and achieve calm,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.
On Monday, a joint statement by the UK, France, and other EU countries, urged "Israel" to refrain from "demolishing Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East-al-Quds [Al-Quds] during the month of Ramadan,” as they referenced the forced evacuation of Palestinian families from the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
The statement noted that the signatories found it "very worrying that Israeli authorities intend to continue" the domicide of Palestinians and declared their “strong opposition to Israel’s settlement expansion policy.”
