Iran helped the EU lose its credibility

 After countless EU lectures on human rights and the moral high ground it has taken towards Israel and others, the EU has crossed a line that even most fervent critics and Eurosceptics would have had a hard time to believe.

The drop was when Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, decided to send an envoy to attend the inauguration of the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, aka “the butcher of Tehran.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat reacted on Twitter by saying that Israel is “puzzled” and recommended the EU to retract its attendance. Israel was indeed puzzled, and so were most Europeans. It was simply hard to wrap our heads around the fact that the EU, the self-proclaimed ultimate human rights defender, failed to draw a line in the most extreme of circumstances: an EU envoy sitting among leaders of terrorist organizations, celebrating the election of a man guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.

Nonetheless the signs were there, piling up slowly but surely.

It is a fact, Borrell has failed to stand up for any Iranian dissident that faces a grim outcome. Even Dr. Ahmad Reza Djalali, a EU citizen no less, who has been incarcerated in Iran on baseless accusations and awaits his death penalty, could only count on an appeasing message to Iran regarding his release. Iranian dissidents and human rights activists implore the EU to stand up to Iran for Djalali, but there’s no one home.

Borrell systematically looks the other way for Iran’s human rights abuses, its terror activities throughout the Middle East, its threats against Israel and even more flagrantly, decided to condemn the recent vessel attack in Oman only after EU envoy Enrique Mora’s attendance was decried.

Even more absurd, when it comes to Israel’s policies regarding Jewish communities in Area C, the EU reacted in a harsh tone and suggested legal action with the ominous statement: “steps towards annexation, if implemented, could not pass unchallenged.”

Furthermore, the EU does not hesitate to use the terms “humanitarian law”, “international law,” “illegal” and accuses Israel of fueling tensions on the ground. In reality, the EU has been systematically misusing these legal terms to falsely accuse Israel of violating international law in order to pressure Israel into political concessions.

To top it off, the EU takes a softer approach when it comes to Hamas’ human rights violations and indiscriminate rocket attacks against civilians. The terror organization that, contrarily to Israel, actually violates human rights on a daily basis. Mora sitting next to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh shouldn’t shock any of us after all.

One would think that threatening a state with “legal action” is a reaction that could better fit Iran’s constant threat in the region and its gross human rights violations. Yet, everyone understood that the EU does not wish to undermine any of its interests with Iran and so Iran’s violations were repeatedly met with silence. Israel, on the other hand, is a safe partner in the background and a safe foe at the forefront in order to secure the left and center-left votes in Europe. Therefore pointing fingers at Israel is a much needed exercise.