Saturday 30 June 2012

'On Fences and Hypocrisy' by Jephtah D. Lorch



 When it comes to double standards, Israel's European critics are not to be outdone.

For example, Javier Solana - formerly Spanish Foreign Minister and later EU foreign policy chief - was a vocal critic of Israel's anti-terror fence, built following the Second Intifada that claimed the lives of over 1,100 Israelis.

At the same time, however, Solana approached the European Union asking for (and receiving) tens of millions of Euros to build (and later strengthen) the Spanish fences that currently demarcate the borders of Ceuta and Melilla - two Spanish enclaves on the northern coast of Morocco.

Both territories - relics of the bygone era of European colonialism - have a total landmass of less than 12 square miles, yet they continue to consume European taxpayers' money for the construction and maintenance of their anti-immigrant fences.

Ask yourself: who poses the greater threat - Palestinian suicide bombers or North African jobseekers?

If the EU sees Israel's security fence as unacceptable, then surely it must see the expenditure of millions of Euros on Spain's own Apartheid Wall as even more unacceptable... Right?