The European Union on Thursday evening condemned the Iranian leader’s threats against Israel, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeatedly called for the “elimination” of the “Zionist entity.”
As opposed to recent warnings from Brussels against Israel’s plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank — which were issued only in the name of the bloc’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, as some member states objected to them — Thursday’s statement on Iran had union-wide consensus.
However, at least one Israeli diplomat said Friday that the statement did not accurately reflect the nature of Khamenei’s threats.
The brief statement, issued by Borrell “on behalf of the European Union,” started by condemning the elderly Iranian leader’s “threatening remarks” for questioning Israel’s legitimacy.
“Such statements are totally unacceptable and represent a deep source of concern. They are also incompatible with the objective of a stable and peaceful Middle East region pursued by the EU,” the statement read. “The European Union reiterates its fundamental commitment to the security of Israel.”
Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff — who in previous positions at the Foreign Ministry focused on the Iranian threat — said Friday that the union’s statement did not go far enough.
Khamenei “did not just bring into question Israel’s legitimacy, he wrote explicitly about ‘eliminating the Zionist regime’ which goes from denying the Holocaust to promoting one,” the Israeli diplomat wrote on his Twitter account.
“The gravity of his remarks is not reflected in the EU reaction.”
He added that the EU “should go beyond words” in its response, though he did not go into further detail. READ MORE
