“Gaza is Hamas’ fault.” Not an unusual sentiment (though not usual enough), but scrape your jaw off the floor when you hear that it was said by an EU official. The usual suspects aren’t pleased, of course:
A Hamas official, Mushir al-Masri, was quoted by Reuters as saying his group was “shocked” at Michel’s comments. He lambasted the official for “giving cover to massacres and terrorism committed by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people… Palestinian resistance is as legitimate as the resistance of European countries that fought against foreign occupiers.”
Well, I have to admit that I share their shock. But not their dismay. I guess their mendacious game isn’t working as well as it used to.
[Evening update]
As long as they’re having a fit of sanity, the EU might want to consider the fungibility of money, and whether or not they’re fueling violence with foreign aid to the so-called Palestinians.
Gah statistics. The problem with charts like these is to figure which variable is the cause and which is the effect.
I do not know if it is fueling violence, but it seems to be poorly spent money regardless. It is pretty stupid to fund building reconstruction just to have the IAF bomb the buildings to kingdom come.
I think the EU is content to pay the jizya to Hamas and the PLO as long as they’re only (publicly) threatening to annihilate that “shitty little country.”