European leaders who came to Jerusalem on Sunday night did support Israel, but only partially, not coming across as Jerusalem had hoped.
The forum of senior visitors included British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez-Zapatero, and current EU President Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.
They European leaders in their press conference in the Prime Minister’s Residence explained they came to express their support for the unilateral Israeli ceasefire declaration in Gaza, including moving ahead on the ceasefire initiative being advanced by Egypt and the United States, towards bringing an end to attacks against southern Israel. Nevertheless, they definitely did not stand squarely behind Israel as was clarified in their statements.
Merkel emphasized the need to ensure the security of southern Israeli residents, but called on Israel to open Gaza crossings and bring an end to the embargo on the Hamas-controlled area. The chancellor’s comments were more or less echoed by Prime Minister Brown.
French President Sarkozy expressed his country’s firm support for Israel and her right to live in peace, but quickly expressed his disapproval of the IDF operation in Gaza. He stressed the European community remains committed to ensure in the future Hamas is unable to smuggle weaponry into Gaza and towards achieving that goal, European naval vessels will take up position in strategic locations to prevent weapons from reaching the Gaza port. He stated Israel’s place is not in Gaza.
The leaders arrived in Jerusalem from Sharm el-Sheikh, attending the ceasefire summit which was also attended by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Egypt used the forum to exhibit Cairo’s pivotal role in the ceasefire that is in place, looking to gain points in the international diplomatic community as the regional peace-maker.
In Israel, ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) Director Yuval Diskin warned cabinet ministers at the Sunday weekly meeting that while a mighty blow was delivered against Hamas, the terrorist regime can still fire rockets. He also warned it is likely that in a number of months the tunnel infrastructure will be back in place and weapons smuggling will once again become a reality.
Chief of Military Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin warned that Hamas will indeed continue seeking to strike out, to show its supporters it is still a viable force. Yadlin believes that may manifest itself in the form of terror attacks inside Israel.
Following the cabinet meeting, Cabinet Secretary Oveid Yehezkel released a number of statements to the press but he refused to take questions, including repeated attempts to obtain a response to concerns of who will undertake responsibility to ensure Hamas does not begin smuggling rockets into Gaza from Sinai.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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One Response
Hashem is preparing us. First condemnation for self-defense; then condemnation for existence; then all out attack on us, to try to deal with the “palestinian problem”. Foreign countries spend way too much time and effort dealing with Israel and the supposed “palestinian problem” than they want to. it isn’t going to be long until they just want to finish it off once and for all. Take a look through the Nevi’im (Yechezkel, Yoel, Amos, Zecharia) and see what they have in store for us.
Time to make serious changes in our lives! Mashiach is waiting for US! Apparently we aren’t doing enough!