In a meeting with the Estonian Foreign Minister, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged European countries to encourage the EU to change its attitude toward Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday with Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand at his office in Jerusalem, during which he expressed Israel’s protest over the positions of the European Union (EU) Commission in Brussels for its “double standard toward Israel.”
The EU has recently issued a condemnation of Israel’s policies, and in November issued a directive ordering the labeling of goods produced in Judea and Samaria, thus singling them out for boycotts.
Israel says these actions expose the EU’s biased policies against Israel. Out of about 200 border conflicts in the world, the EU is choosing to discriminate only against the Jewish State, Israel says, maintaining that this stance prevents the EU from being a fair player in resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Despite the EU’s diplomatic belligerence, Netanyahu told Kaljurand that bilateral relations between Israel and most European countries are good, and said that these countries need to pressure the EU Commission to change its attitude toward Israel.
The two also discussed economic cooperation as well as cooperation in technology and on various aspects of the war against terrorism.
Kaljurand was also shown a new governmental presentation on Palestinian incitement that was sent to European foreign ministers. Israel says that incitement by the Palestinian leadership has led to a wave of almost daily Palestinian terror attacks which have claimed the lives of 29 victims.
Kaljurand met on Sunday with Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Communications and IT Minister Allam Mousa. They discussed bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of cyber technology, as well as “the situation in the Middle East in a broader context.”
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel