EU chiefs claim Israelis were slain ‘because they were Jewish’

Brussels, Belgium — AFP

The president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola has said she believes the Israeli killings on Saturday in the Hamas attack were motivated by anti-Semitism.

“October 7 is a day that will go down in global infamy,” she said on Wednesday, referring to Hamas’s Operation Al Aqsa Flood that started in response to continuing killings of Palestinians in West Bank, repeated storming of the Al Aqsa mosque by Israeli settlers and their attacks on Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

“The world has witnessed Jews being murdered simply because they were Jewish. Again. In Israel,” she expressed her belief.

Her words reflected an address made earlier by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to a meeting of the 27 EU commissioners.

“These innocents were killed for one single reason. For being Jewish and living in the State of Israel,” von der Leyen said, in remarks released on social media.

At the memorial ceremony, Metsola and von der Leyen were joined by EU Council president Charles Michel and Israel’s ambassador to the EU Haim Regev.

Also in attendance were senior MEPs and officials from EU member states.

Metsola called Hamas “a terrorist organisation” and claimed that it did not “represent the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people” or “offer solutions” accusing it of only offering “bloodshed”.

“It helps to speak plainly. On October 7, Hamas murdered more than a thousand innocent babies, children, women and men and still hold close to 100 more hostage.”

On Tuesday, after meeting EU foreign ministers, Brussels’ top diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Hamas but urged Israel in its response to respect international law and not to impose a total siege on Gaza.

But at Wednesday’s tribute, the focus was exclusively on solidarity with Israel.

Conspicuously, any expression of solidarity with the over 1000 Palestinian victims of the war on Gaza which include over 200 children was completely absent from the remarks of European leaders.