Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-08-Speech-3-283"
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"en.20100908.15.3-283"2
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"Mr President, the Goldstone report had an unexpected outcome.
The intention was to establish the truth about possible war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and, in fact, it caused an outcry in Israel. Justice Goldstone was subjected to personal attacks and the NGOs that had the courage to give evidence became targets. Shortly after this media storm, a number of draft bills emerged intending to further control NGOs and weaken all opposition to government policy.
Among these was a draft bill on NGOs which initially sought to consider them as political organisations and therefore not exempt from taxation.
Secondly, a draft bill on criminalising the boycott of Israeli goods, even goods from the settlements, including boycotts called for by a government, an organisation or a citizen of foreign origin. To put it plainly, if a French person calls for a boycott of goods from the settlements on the Internet, he could be penalised, and if the Palestinian Authority does so, it will receive the same treatment.
Thirdly, a draft bill on universal jurisdiction which gives Israel competence to decide on cases of this kind.
Various other draft bills that restrict freedom of speech or of movement are in progress. It is not possible to list them but they are all on the same lines and they are worrying. They amount to a direct attack on freedom of speech which is an inalienable human right and a necessary corollary of democracy.
For the Knesset to have amended the law on NGOs to the point where it has become almost acceptable for the NGOs themselves is a good thing. It is to be hoped that the other draft bills will meet with the same fate, especially the law on boycotts, which will be submitted to the Knesset for first reading on 15 September.
I wish to draw the Commission’s attention to this point: if we can no longer say that goods imported illegally under the terms of our agreements may not be bought in Europe, it is as though we were prohibiting advice against the purchase of, for example, counterfeit goods or stolen watches on a market stall. Parliament will monitor this issue closely.
In this regard, I would ask Europe: what are we in Europe doing in this Israeli-Palestinian peace process? Where was our High Representative? Where are we in this process that is so important?"@en1
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