European Union cancels diplomatic reception to forestall Israeli minister from attending

The European Union stated Monday that it canceled a diplomatic reception to forestall a radical ultranationalist Israeli minister from attending.

The act of protest by the EU’s delegation to Israel in opposition to a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities, probably the most spiritual and ultranationalist within the nation’s historical past, may trigger a diplomatic spat between Israel and the EU.

Relations have already got been strained over Israeli insurance policies within the occupied West Bank.

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Itamar Ben-Gvir, the chief of the Jewish Power faction, serves because the nationwide safety minister and was assigned to symbolize the Israeli authorities on the EU’s Europe Day occasion on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen stated Sunday in a Kan radio interview that Ben-Gvir had been assigned by the federal government secretary to attend “not as a consultant of the Jewish Power celebration … however to symbolize the federal government of Israel.”

Israels National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a army cemetery ceremony in Beersheba, Israel, on April 25, 2023. Ben-Gvir was upset that the European Union canceled an occasion claiming “It’s a disgrace that the EU, which pretends to symbolize democratic values and multiculturalism, behaves with undiplomatic gagging,” (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

The EU stated that it determined “to cancel the diplomatic reception, as we don’t need to provide a platform to somebody whose views contradict the values the European Union stands for.” The the rest of the general public occasion would happen as scheduled.

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Ben-Gvir is a former far-right activist and hard-line West Bank settler who has been convicted of incitement and assist for a Jewish terror group. As the federal government’s consultant on the Europe Day occasion, Ben-Gvir would have addressed attendees.

“It’s a disgrace that the EU, which pretends to symbolize democratic values and multiculturalism, behaves with undiplomatic gagging,” Ben-Gvir stated.

Netanyahu returned to workplace in December on the head of a coalition that features ultra-Orthodox events and non secular ultranationalists, together with Ben-Gvir’s small Jewish Power faction. The authorities has put enlargement of West Bank settlements as a prime precedence. The EU, together with many of the worldwide group, considers Jewish settlements within the West Bank and east Jerusalem unlawful underneath worldwide regulation and obstacles to peace with the Palestinians.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast battle. The Palestinians search all three areas for a future unbiased state.