BRUSSELS (EJP)--- Israel’s ambassador to Belgium has sharply criticised Europe for having failed to put Hezbollah on the EU list of terror organisations.
"I am accusing the European governments who during two years had not the courage to include Hezbollah on the list of terror organisations despite the clear links between this organisation and terrrorist acts such as the bombing against a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994," Yehudi Kinar said during a pro-Israel rally Tuesday evening in Brussels.
Around 1,500 people rallied outside the Israeli embassy on the outskirts of the Belgian capital, under the slogan "Hezbollah is a threat to peace", to expresss their solidarity and support with Israel.
The rally was organised by the umbrella group of Jewish organisations, CCOJB.
In his speech, Kinar added: "The Europeans tried to claim that there is a difference between the political and military arms of Hezbollah". "It’s rather the left arm of some European countries which doesn’t know what the right arm is doing".
'Progressive Jews' criticised
Stressing that Israel "didnt’t want this war", Kinar lashed out at the media which, he said, "in principle should provide facts and information to the public and shouldn’t be abused and spread propaganda from Hezbollah".
He also denounced a small group of Belgian progressive Jews who attended an anti-Israel demontration on Sunday in Brussels.
"These pseudo intellectuals are claiming their Jewishness only when they make virulent attacks against Israel in crisis time. They are not expressing their progressive ideas for Darfur, Nepal, Congo or other regions in the world",» Kinar said.
The vice-president of CCOJB, Henri Gutman, also spoke out against Hezbollah at the rally.
"This is a war that has been imposed by the Hezbollah terrorists with the help of Iran," he said to the crowd standing in front of the embassy.
"After Camp David, after Oslo, after the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and the Gaza pullout last year, we thought each time with the Israelis that peace had a chance,"he added.
"But at any fluttering of the dove’s wing, a terrorist organisation, often islamist, is sabotaging, killing and breaking the hope".
Essential support
Gutman pointed out that Hezbollah’s objective was "to rejoice at the killing of a maximum of Israeli civilians while Israel apologizes when it inevitably reaches innocent people because Hezbollah launches rockets from buildings full of civilians".
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Henri Gutman, vice-president of the umbrella group of Belgian Jewish organisations
Photo: EJP |
Gutman stressed however the "urgent need" for a ceasefire. "We know that such a ceasefire will occur when Israel will be convinced by a credible plan for disarmament of Hezbollah and for recovering of Lebanon's sovereignty over its territory".
Claude Marinower, a Belgian Jewish MP attended the rally. He told EJP he believes it essential for Jews to come out and show their support for Israel.
"Despite what is written in the press and images shown at the television, it’s necessary to recall who is the aggressor and who is being attacked," he added.
Maurice Einhorn, vice-president of the Dialogue and Sharing group which advocates a peaceful solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians stressed that almost all political trends within the Jewish community were represented at the rally.
"It’s Israel’s existence which is at stake," he told EJP. "I am happy to see that this demonstration was an undeniable success," he said.