Israel ought to be recognized as the EU’s and the Western world’s premium partner in battling the coronavirus given the Jewish state’s global leadership in medicine, technology, and innovation, according to the Brussels-based Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) group which called for stronger EU-Israel and transatlantic cooperation on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five members of the European Parliament, who lead the group, have called for an ‘’urgent high-level government to government dialogue,’’ within the EU-Israel Association Council, which the EU hasn’t convened with Israel since 2012.
‘’As the world fights a deadly disease that knows no borders, it’s incumbent upon the family of Western democracies to step up their cooperation and mobilize critical resources for the benefit of all of humanity. In order to avert devastating famines due to the pandemic, we must together assist the world’s most vulnerable people to avoid food shortages and provide humanitarian relief,’’ said the five European lawmakers, Lukas Mandl (Austria, EPP), as TFI Chair, and the four Vice-Chairs, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (Greece, EPP), Petras Auštrevičius (Lithuania, Renew Europe), Dietmar Köster (Germany, S&D Group) and Alexandr Vondra (Czechia, ECR).
‘’Not only are our collective security and our economies inextricably linked with one another but also the preservation of our values. Malign actors within our societies and on the world stage are using the pandemic to spread dangerous misinformation and conspiracy theories that divide our societies and sow hatred and chaos,’’ they stressed.
The Transatlantic Friends of Israel group specifically calls a political dialogue at the highest level between the EU and Israel, a close cooperation in the fields of medical research and high tech and a common strategy to fight misinformation.
Israel has been ranked high among the world countries in the fight against coronavirus.