The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has called for political ramifications in the European Union (EU) against the Palestinian Authority (PA) Tuesday, after Palestinian terrorists massacred Jews praying at a Jerusalem synagogue, killing four people and wounding eight. The EJC called on EU leaders to put conditions on aid and cooperation with the PA, noting that the attack is the result of ongoing incitement on PA television and in official media against Jews and Israel. “The European Union, as was seen in the Foreign Ministers statement yesterday, has placed too much focus on Israeli actions and have completely ignored far more important issues like incessant Palestinian incitement which directly leads to massacres like the one we saw at the synagogue this morning and over the last couple of weeks,” Dr. Moshe Kantor, EJC President said. “The Europeans have an ability to influence and a tool with which to pressure the Palestinians to end the daily incitement emanating from its leaders, education system, media and religious institutions, and that is the financial assistance which is helping aid this system.” “There should be a massive rethink in Europe about the best way to achieve true peace, because while there has been an obsessive focus on settlement building, incitement to hatred and violence, Antisemitism and religious hatred, is by far the greatest obstacle to any lasting peace," he continued. "The Europeans should demand that this ends immediately and threaten to withdraw all aid and cooperation until it does, before we see more massacres like the one this morning in Jerusalem.” Less than 24 hours before the attack, EU foreign affairs chief Frederica Mogherini said the EU "deeply deplores and strongly opposes the recent expropriation of land near Bethlehem, recent announcements of plans for new settlement construction... as well as plans to displace Bedouins in the West Bank [Judea-Samaria - ed.] and the continued demolitions, including of EU and member states funded projects." Israel should reverse these decisions which "run counter to international law and directly threaten the two state (peace) solution," it added. The condemnations follow her lukewarm condemnations of previous terror attacks last week, including a stabbing in Tel Aviv and a car attack in Gush Etzion. Kantor noted that, after Tuesday's massacre, this policy needs to change. “The Palestinians have to be held accountable for their actions by the international community and there should be no more excuses or pretexts,” Dr. Kantor continued. “By ignoring Palestinian incitement to hatred and violence the international community has allowed for the creation of a culture of immunity and impunity in the Palestinian Authority and its official institutions.” “Ignoring all Palestinian offenses and focusing only on Israel’s perceived infractions is a soft bigotry of low expectations and should end immediately," he added.
