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World Leaders Ask EU to Reevaluate Pulling Financing From Israeli Enterprises

European flags / Wikimedia Commons
September 27, 2013

A group of prominent former world leaders are calling for the European Union to re-evaluate a recent directive that pulled financing from Israeli enterprises.

The letter warned that the EU directive makes it seem that Europe was no longer a friend to Israel, according to Israel Hayom.

"By treating Israel differently than most other states, this policy only reinforces the impression among Israelis that Europe is basically unfriendly to Israel and cannot be relied upon as it once was," wrote the authors.

Signatories of the letter included former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, former Uruguay President Luis Alberto Lacalle, and former U.K. Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lord William David Trimble.

The letter said Israel was being singled out by the EU due to its disputed borders, even as the EU continues to cooperate politically and economically with other nations in similar situations.

The letter further pointed out that the EU’s actions could actually undermine the peace process.

"By explicitly restricting EU cooperation with Israel to territory within the 1967 lines, the European Commission is not somehow saving the peace process. In many respects it is prejudging the question of Israel’s future borders, and in doing so it is in fact undermining the delicate negotiations that are currently transpiring."

Published under: European Union , Israel