Today's adoption of a recommendation on the EU's relations with the Palestinian Authority in the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee leaves the ECR Group's shadow rapporteur Charlie Weimers stunned.

Weimers accuses the committee of adopting a radical left-wing text that has little to do with the title of the report and more to do with blaming Israel for all the Palestinian ills. “It is disgraceful that the European Parliament’s committee turns a blind eye to persistent Palestinian-sponsored terrorism,” Weimers said.

“The text is an absolute embarrassment for the committee. The left and centrist groups have today adopted a text that is far to the left of current EU policy. It is a travesty that the recommendation does not forcefully condemn Palestinian terrorism, one of the greatest obstacles to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, Weimers continued.

The text calls for the release of all political prisoners, which includes members of EU-listed terrorist organisations, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a no-go for the ECR Group.

“At least it was possible to prevent such organisations from being removed from the EU terror list, as was requested by the Left Group. However, all in all, the radical language against Israel and shielding Palestinians of any criticism for their support for terrorism and incitement does not meet the expectations of a text to be adopted by a democratic institution like this House”, Weimers added.

The ECR Group requested separate votes on several ECR amendments aimed at addressing some of the most important shortcomings of the text. According to Weimers, Palestinian support for terrorism and incitement to murder should have been condemned, as well as the lavish funding of Palestinian terrorist groups by Iran and Qatar. In addition, the Conservative MEP said the text failed to call for the immediate return of the remains of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, illegally held by Hamas in Gaza, and the release of Israeli citizens Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

However, the ECR Group was able to improve the text at least in one important point:

“We secured an important amendment calling for international cooperation to prevent the rearming of terrorist groups in Gaza and the West Bank. Moreover, thanks to our efforts, the text reaffirms the terrorist activities of Hamas in Gaza and reiterates the need for the Palestinian Authority to take control of the Gaza Strip. However, the adoption of the amendment is still far from sufficient to change the unacceptable tenor of the recommendation as a whole,” Weimers explained.

“Before the final adoption in plenary, I’ll continue to do my utmost to urge other MEPs to vote against this absurd recommendation. The amendments tabled by the ECR Group offer a much more realistic perspective on Palestinian affairs than the text adopted by the Committee, including its unacceptable support for terrorism,” Weimers concluded.