Attempts to remove reference to the EU in the title of a conference on incitement in Judea and Samaria have failed, due to pressure from right wing groups.
A conference titled “The European Union and extreme left-wing organizations as instigators of violence in Judea and Samaria” will go ahead in the Knesset under its full title after Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) bowed to pressure from right wing parties and organizations.
Levy had wanted the reference to the European Union removed over concerns it could damage diplomatic relations between the European Union and Israel, but backed down following criticism from various quarters, including Likud, which slammed his stance as a “new low” in the coalition’s “trampling on democracy”.
Likud had also accused Levy of mounting an illegitimate attempt to “censure political discourse,” and so welcomed his reversal on the matter. The conference, organized by Yamina MK Amichai Chikli and Likud MK Kathrin Shitrit will now go ahead on Monday under the original title.
In a statement, Im Tirtzu head Matan Peleg congratulated Shitrit and Chikli “for their determination,” adding: “For too long, the Knesset Speaker has chosen to run the Knesset as if it were the United Nations and not the sole parliament in the world that represents the Jewish People.”
Criticizing the EU’s interference in the region, as his organization sees it, Peleg continued: “The issue of the EU’s infiltration and the damage it inflicts on Israeli sovereignty, as well as the funding it provides to extremist groups is a critical one that must be addressed – and the right place to do so is in the Knesset.”
Ad Kan, which focuses on exposing EU interference in Israeli matters, also welcomed the news.
“It is high time that the European Union stopped thinking of Israel as yet another colony,” the organization said in a statement. “The British Mandate ended with the establishment of the State, and it is now time that the EU stopped its de facto support of Palestinian violence.”
The statement continued: “The Israeli public expects the Knesset Speaker to represent the State of Israel with pride, and to stop managing Knesset affairs based on his fears of how foreign countries might react. As Ben Gurion said: ‘Our future will not be based on ‘what will the non-Jews say,’ but rather on what the Jews do.’”
(World Israel News).