The right of a country ‘’to defend itself’’ and protect its population against any external aggression is a cornerstone of international law as it is enshrined in the United Nations Charter (Article 51) and numerous UN Security Council Resolutions
By Yossi Lempkowicz, Editor-in-Chief European Jewish Press
BRUSSELS—Last May, the European Union spokesperson on foreign affairs issued a statement following reports about Iranian attacks from Syria against Isreli army posts on the Golan, which read : ‘’As the EU has said repeatedly, Israel has the right to defend itself.’’
This right of a country ‘’to defend itself’’ and protect its population against any external aggression is a cornerstone of international law as it is enshrined in the United Nations Charter (Article 51) and numerous UN Security Council Resolutions.
The application of the right to defend itself to combat terrorism was further reinforced by international practice following the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States.
Following a barrage of almost 200 mortars and rockets fired into Israeli border communities from Gaza on Saturday, Israel launched a series of powerful reprisals, striking dozens of terror targets and leveling a Hamas urban combat training facility situated over a massive underground terror and black market smuggling tunnel. Israel announced that the counter-strikes represent the largest anti-terror campaign in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
On Friday, Hamas, the Islamist group which runs the Gaza Strip since a violent takeover from Fatah in 2007, dispatched thousands of Palestinians to the border with Israel, where rioters hurled grenades, firebombs and rocks at Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers.
One grenade blast injured an IDF officer. Three Israelis were wounded—a 52-year-old man and two teenage girls, ages 14 and 15—when two rockets hit a home and a synagogue in the city of Sderot.
At least 40 fires raged in Gaza-adjacent communities in southern Israel last Wednesday as a result of burning kites and balloons launched from Gaza over the border fence as part of ongoing protests organized by Hamas, bringing the total number of fires set by the group’s new tactic in the past three months to more than 1,000.
The fires have laid waste to more than 8,200 acres of forest and agricultural land, with damage totaling tens of millions of dollars. Experts say it will take at least 15 years to rehabilitate the vegetation and wildlife in the scorched areas.
In its desperate effort to break out of isolation and prevent the Gazan economy from collapsing, Hamas is marching Gaza to the very brink of war with Israel. ‘’All of Hamas’s recent actions are designed to use blackmail, terrorism and the threat of war to force a change, as well as get major funds flowing into the Gaza Strip,’’ writes Israeli military and strategic affairs analyst Yaakov Lappin about the latest events.
He believes Hamas has been unwilling to do anything to end Gaza’s isolation. ‘’It refuses to slow down its weapons-production programs. It continues to stick to a radical Islamist ideology and remains committed to the destruction of Israel, as well as the toppling of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.’’
‘’It plans to keep Gaza armed to the teeth, to take over the West Bank and to keep the flames of conflict alive.’’
‘’At the same time, Hamas wants to rule over a Gaza that has its own sea port, that has economic relations with its neighbors, and territory in which the international community invests large amounts of money in infrastructure and the economy.
As a result, Hamas continues to be trapped in its own paradox, and cannot decide if it is a terror entity or a state. It’s trying to dance at two weddings, and it is playing with fire.’’
In the past months, the P.A. has reduced payments for electricity to Gaza, lowered salaries for its employees in Gaza and in general treats Gaza as a break-away rebel province that deserves to be punished and isolated, and cut off from funding.
Iran has been able to take some advantage of this vacuum, inserting cash and arms assistance to Hamas, in addition to its support of another terror group active in Gaza , the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is another example of Tehran’s destabilizing role in the region to export its ideology. It is doing with Hamas what it did with Hezbollah by providing logistical and military assistance to the Lebanese group in order to act as a proxy army against Israel.
European Union Foreign Ministers are meeting this Monday in Brussels to discuss, according to the agenda, the Eastern Partnership, Libya and North Korea…
They should also discuss as ‘’other business’’ this weekend’s events on the Gaza border, condemn the attacks against Israeli communities and reaffirm Israel’s right to defend itself and its population. Isn’t the EU which has listed Hamas as a terror organisation ?
The suffering of the Gaza population is only a result of the non capacity of the EU to obtain a demilitarization of the Strip.
‘’In the absence of dialogue between Israel and Hamas, and given the rift between Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Ramallah government and Hamas leadership in Gaza, both sides need someone to help them climb down from the very tall tree on which they are perched,’’ commented Eyal Zisser, a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.
‘’Such mediation could lead to an agreement that would curb Hamas’s military activities and perhaps even advance a deal that would secure the return of the Israelis held captive by Hamas, which, in turn, would enable Israeli gestures that would ease Gaza’s economic plight,’’ he wrote.
He concluded: ‘’Egypt has a clear interest in preventing a security escalation in Gaza, as it may spill over its own border. It remains to be seen, however, whether it still wields the same influence on Gaza as before, given the newfound chumminess between Hamas and Iran. The latter would like nothing more than to see an escalation in Gaza, as it would take the pressure off Israel’s efforts to curb its entrenchment in Syria.’’
This is another example of Iran’s involvement in the various Middle East regional crisis.
The EU must understand that by insisting to abide by the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal with Iran, after the withdrawal o the United States, it reinforces the Iranian regime’s efforts to spread violence in the region….