Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) responded cynically on Friday to Belgium's killing of two jihadists in a counter-terror police raid the night before, noting how the European Union (EU) has so quickly and sharply criticized every case of Israel killing terrorists.
Writing on his Facebook page, Liberman responded to the crackdown that has seen dozens of terrorists arrested in Belgium, France and Germany, and to French security forces using lethal force to stop three Islamist terrorists last week who murdered 17 people.
"It will be interesting if the European Union will publish condemnations against the governments of Belgium and France for the excessive use of force, and call for them to negotiate with the terrorists and solve the issues around the negotiating table...interesting," he wrote.
The EU has not only condemned Israel frequently over its fight against terrorism, but last month the European Court of Justice removed Hamas from its official terrorist organization list, claiming the move was due to a "technicality."
Police in France detained 12 suspects overnight Thursday in the suburbs of Paris in connection with last week's attacks, carried out by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, and Amedy Coulibaly.
The nine men and three women were to be questioned about "possible logistic support" they may have given to the gunmen, in particular weapons and vehicles. In Belgium, several other terrorists were arrested reportedly before conducting large-scale attacks in the country, and in Germany several terrorists were likewise rounded up.
A Western security source quoted by CNN revealed there are 20 "sleeper" terrorist cells in Europe that are ready to attack at any time. According to the source, these cells consist of between 120 and 180 terrorists in France, Germany, Belgium and Holland.