[Guardian-UK] Seth Freedman - Hugo Chavez's announcement that foreign dissidents will be expelled from Venezuela ought to put Israel's treatment of dissenting activists into perspective. For all that the ISM, CPT and their ilk complain of harassment and intimidation by the IDF and security agencies, the truth is they're afforded a level of freedom totally at odds with the demonic reputation they've bestowed upon Israel. Jeff Halper, the man behind the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, is a supporter of the one-state solution - in other words, the total elimination of Israel in its current form. Halper travels the world promoting his message of "Israeli apartheid" and calling for heavy sanctions to be implemented against the Jewish state. Despite his highly critical take on Israeli government policies, he and his group are allowed to flourish and promote their biased views, unrestricted by intervention on the part of the authorities. Clearly, he's as entitled to his views as the next man but, as a recent report by NGO-Monitor shows, the fact that the EU bankrolls his organization is somewhat more unjustifiable. According to NGO-Monitor's Dan Kosky, "EU money is being spent in total opposition to actual EU policy, which is based on support for the Middle East peace process, clearly defined by the road map and a two-state solution." When European taxpayers' money is so casually doled out to anti-Israeli groups such as ICAHD, it is little wonder that many Israeli citizens continue to question the impartiality of the EU and its officials."
2007-07-27 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive