MKs Amichai Chikli (Yamina) and Kathrin Shitrit (Likud) have invited several European ambassadors to a Knesset conference on the subject of “Extreme leftist organizations and the European Union as instigators of violence in Judea and Samaria."
"We would like to invite you to an emergency conference that will be held in response to the reprehensible campaign on "settler violence.” We have learned from reports of the Registrar of Associations and the grants website that you are heavily involved in this campaign. It is a campaign that would label a million and a half Jewish people living in Judea and Samaria as a violent population that bears exclusive responsibility for the conflict, one that preceded the establishment of the State of Israel. This distorted depiction is nothing less than a modern-day blood libel," the MKs wrote.
"The Israel Police has noted a 61% decline in violent incidents and in any event, these are isolated events, most of which begin with deliberate provocation coming from far-left organizations. Your outrageous decision to completely ignore the escalating Palestinian violence, stone-throwing incidents, shooting attacks in the Old City of Jerusalem, the systematic antisemitic incitement that led a 15-year-old girl to stab a mother in front of her young children, tells us that Jewish lives in don’t matter to you.
"Under the heading of the B'Tselem website, which you have decided to provide funding for, appear the words "Settler Violence = Violent State." In other words, not only do you accuse the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria of being violent, but go so far as to portray the entire state of Israel as violent too. In a parallel campaign, the organizations that you are funding are sending a message around the world comparing Israel to South Africa’s immoral Apartheid regime.
"That is not how friendly countries behave. Moreover, we imagine that in diplomatic terms, you would not tolerate a situation in which the State of Israel funded organizations that promote the delegitimization of your country or boycotts against it. It is noteworthy that these campaigns reverberate beyond the borders of the region and encourage antisemitic attacks against Jewish communities and institutions in Europe and beyond.
"Europe might be expected to have learned the lessons of the events that occurred on its soil some 80 years ago. Sadly, we have not yet reached a time when Jews can walk down the street wearing a star-of-David around their neck or a kippa on their head in Europe without fear, as they can today in Dubai. As those who are strongly invested in strengthening ties with the EU, we feel we have a duty to depict to you just how jarring your one-sided approach to the conflict and your involvement in the funding of organizations and campaigns that malign Israel are to the Israeli public. We hope to see you at the conference," MKs Chikli and Shitrit concluded.
The invitation was sent to EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev, Norwegian Ambassador to Israel Kåre Reidar Aas, Swiss Ambassador to Israel Urs Bucher, and Swedish Ambassador to Israel Erik Ullenhag.