Watch: Alex Agius Saliba Tears Into ‘Toothless’ EU Parliament For Only Condemning Hamas
Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba has delivered a strong broadside against the European Parliament for its stance on the Israel-Palestine war, which condemned Hamas but not Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“The European Parliament’s latest resolution shows what a toothless institution it is,” Agius Saliba said in a video from the EP’s seat in Strasbourg.
He said a resolution the EP passed today – which condemned Hamas, recognised Israel’s right to self-defence and called for a “humanitarian pause” on the fighting – was unfairly one-sided towards Israel.
“The European Parliament rejected several amendments proposed by the left, including one condemning the fact that Israel bombed a hospital and killed loads of innocent Palestinians,” he said.
“It didn’t even have the courage to call for a ceasefire, only for a humanitarian pause, which means that the fighting should stop until the Palestinians leave the territory, something they can’t even do because the borders are closed.”
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He said the EP should have also condemned EP President Roberta Metsola and EC President Ursula von der Leyen for visiting Israel without even consulting member states, something he said was a “huge diplomatic error”.
While the EP rejected an amendment that criticised von der Leyen, no amendment which criticised Metsola was proposed.
“Those amendments were rejected, the resolution ended up misbalanced, so I had to abstain along with a minority of MEPs, mostly leftists. We can’t keep being hypocrites in this conflict and we must ultimately send out a clear message that Israel’s actions go international law and are ultimately causing huge suffering to innocent people caught in this conflict.”
“Just as the EP attacked Hamas’ atrocities, I also expected them to attack the Israeli government in a similar vein. My appeal is for peace to reign.”
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