The European Union’s Delegation to the Palestinian Authority had harsh words for the IDF following its recent counterterrorism operations in Samaria, which ended in the death of several terrorists.
Most recently, Israeli security forces operated in the Jenin Camp on Wednesday to apprehend two suspects involved in a number of recent shooting attacks.
After the forces surrounded the residence in which the suspects were located, the terrorists detonated an explosive device and shot at the security forces, who forces fired back according to standard operating procedures and killed the two terrorists.
One of the suspects was Rahman Hazam from Jenin. Hazam is also the brother of the terrorist who murdered three Israeli civilians in the shooting attack in Tel Aviv in April. A total of four terrorists were killed in the battle, and several others were injured.
However, the EU released a statement on Wednesday “deploring the loss of life” and saying it was “alarmed by the spike in violence in Jenin following ISF [sic] incursions with several Palestinians killed and at least 40 injured.”
The EU said “all parties must exercise maximum restraint in the use of lethal force to prevent the loss of life and avoid fueling further tensions in the West Bank in an already very fragile situation. Violence should cease immediately.”
The EU did not condemn the recent multiple terror attacks against Israelis.
In response, the heads of Lach Yerushalayim and the Im Tirtzu Movement called the EU’s statement “unacceptable political audacity” and demanded that Israel expel the EU’s Ambassador to the Palestinians Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff.
“This is an unimaginable political interference and the support for terrorism by an official representative from the European Union,” the Israeli organizations charged. “There is no other way to describe an expression of mourning for the deaths of terrorists!”
They called on Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Interim Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to “immediately announce the expulsion of this hostile foreign agent that is only provoking the territory and supporting the terrorists.”
Israel’s security system is on high alert as it fears a wave of terrorism during the Jewish High Holidays.
