Josep Borrell, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, receiving an honorary doctorate in Valadolid, declared:
"We believe that a two-state solution [Israeli and Palestinian] must be imposed from outside to bring about peace. Even if, and I insist, Israel reaffirms its refusal [of this solution] and, to prevent it, has gone so far as to create Hamas itself (...) Hamas has been financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Fatah Palestinian Authority. But if we don't intervene firmly, the spiral of hatred and violence will continue from generation to generation, from funeral to funeral".In so doing, Josep Borrell broke with the official Western line that Hamas is the enemy of Israel, which it attacked by surprise on October 7, justifying the current Israeli response and the massacre of 25,000 Palestinian civilians. He asserted that enemies of Jews can be supported by other Jews, Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. He rejected the communitarian reading of history and examined personal responsibilities.
This narrative shift was made possible by the UK's exit from the European Union four years ago. Josep Borrell knows that the European Union has financed Hamas since its 2006 coup, yet today he is free to say what's on his mind. He didn't mention Hamas's links with the Muslim Brotherhood, whose "Palestinian branch" the organization claims to be, or with MI6, the British secret service. He simply suggested withdrawing from the mess.
Comment: Notably we also recently learnt: Paleoclimate reconstructions show significant cold periods coincided with pandemics & plagues in ancient Rome
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