After critical comments about Israel’s judicial overhaul, Israel blocks EU foreign chief from visiting
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell reportedly was blocked from visiting Israel after making critical comments about the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul.
On Tuesday, Borrell spoke to the European Parliament in a special session entitled, “The Deterioration of Democracy in Israel.”
During that session, Borrell said the EU would not interfere in internal Israeli affairs but that it “is fully empowered to discuss these dynamics and to understand what happens there with respect to our perception of values and interests in the region.”
In addition to his comments on the judicial overhaul, Borrell last week published an article that compared attacks by Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria to Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis. He also wrote that Israeli military operations “frequently cause civilian Palestinian deaths, often without effective accountability” and that “illegal settlements” are “expanding on occupied land.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke to Borrell on Tuesday, denouncing both the EU session on Israel and Borrell’s comments.
“There’s no place for any comparison between Israeli terror victims and Palestinian terrorists supported by the Palestinian Authority,” 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.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
