The European People’s Party (EPP) unequivocally condemns Hamas’ terrorist actions against the state of Israel and their unjustifiable brutality against civilians. We call on Hamas and other terrorist organisations to immediately release all Israeli hostages and return the bodies of all those murdered. We stand by Israel. Our support for Israel will never waiver. It is the sacred responsibility of every state, including Israel, to protect its citizens and defend against terrorism, in line with international law. We believe that Hamas does not represent or speak for Palestinian people, therefore European Union aid must continue. However, it is the responsibility of the EU to carefully review the financial assistance for Palestine and ensure that this funding does not end up in the hands of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation. The European Union must speak with one voice and do everything in its power to de-escalate the crisis and ensure that civilians do not become the target of further hostilities. The EU must also work closely with all regional actors to ensure that nobody, neither by words nor deeds, further fuels the destabilisation of the region. The pursuit of immediate and narrow interests cannot be tolerated. Social media platforms must also do their part in ceasing the indiscriminate reproduction of terrorist content. We stand with the people of Israel in their fight against terror and welcome the leadership of our EPP leaders, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who will be in Israel today.


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For more information contact:

 

Alexandra Henman

Deputy Spokesperson

+32 471 90 76 84

alh@epp.eu

 

Angelos Athanasopoulos

National and Regional Press Director

+32 471 90 76 35

aa@epp.eu