The EU Should Stay Out of Israel’s Business

European officials need to stay out of Israel’s sovereign affairs. Israel DOES already guarantee rights to all of its citizens, but that is beside the point. It is not the business of the EU to comment on Israel’s proposed citizenship law or the demand that Israel be recognized as a Jewish state. Let the EU lecture muslim states on equal rights for all of their citizens. After all, they are the ones that persecute their non-muslim citizens and treat their women as property. And as Avigdor Lieberman stated, let the EU tend to their own messes. There is more than enough problems in their own back yard to keep them busy instead of haranguing Israel. However I blame the Israeli political leadership for being dormats in which foreign politicians feel free to beat up on the Jewish state with impunity. They need to get some self-respect and not put up with foreign interference in their sovereign affairs as well as not putting up with constant insults.

EU says Israel should guarantee rights for all citizens

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief asks for protection of minorities’ rights, saying for Israel this means “whether they are Jewish or not.”

The European Union on Tuesday urged Israel to guarantee equality for all its citizens after Prime Minister Binymain Netanyahu’s offer the previous day to continue the building moratorium in the West Bank in return for Palestinian Authority recognition of Israel as the Jewish national home, according to the AFP.

“We support the two democratic states living side by side in peace and security,” a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told AFP. “We also stress that the future states of Palestine and Israel will need to fully guarantee equality to all their citizens.”

“Basically in the case of Israel, this means whether they are Jewish or not,” said the spokeswoman Maja Kocijancik.

The previous day Netanyahu spoke at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session in Jerusalem, taking time to address the precarious state of peace talks with the Palestinians.

In his speech, the prime minister challenged his Palestinian counterparts to continue the peace talks by saying he would initiate a cabinet proposal to renew a settlement moratorium if the Palestinian Authority would declare its recognition of Israel as a national home for the Jewish people.

Netanyahu’s comments put an end to a couple of weeks of speculation regarding how he would deal with the moratorium issue.

He said that Palestinian recognition would be an important “confidence building measure” and would send an important positive message to the Israeli people of Palestinian intentions.

On Sunday, the cabinet called on all new citizens who are not Jewish to pledge an oath of allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, passing an amendment to Israel’s Citizenship Law that is to go before the Knesset.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.