Unexpected Support For Israel From The EU and Putin -- Against Richard Falk and Iran

Two unexpected voices of support for Israel came out of unexpected sources this week.

First there is the EU, which has been less than supportive of Israel, and to date has still failed to add Hezbollah to its list of recognized terrorist organizations. Yet this week, The Jerusalem Post reports EU slams Falk’s Israel report as biased at UNHRC:

“The EU continues to regret the unbalanced mandate of the Special Rapporteur and is also concerned that parts of the report include political considerations.

In the past, the EU emphasized that future reports should be based on a more factual and legal analysis, and we regret to see no genuine progress in that direction,” it said.

“The council needs to be provided with accurate, factual information and solid allegations to fulfill its role and address the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory,” the EU said.

Of course, given Falk's history of outrageous and outlandish statements, it is not entirely illogical of the EU to distance themselves from Falk -- and the EU loses nothing by condemning him while at the same time gains credit as a player in the Middle East peace process.

Then there is news that Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Iranian threats against Israel as unacceptable:

"Iran is in a very difficult region," Putin told a televised question-and-answer session in Moscow.

"And when we hear threats from Iran against its neighbours, particularly Israel, when we hear from Iran that Israel must be destroyed - I think this is completely unacceptable."

Considering Iran's long history of making threats against Israel, Putin's comments have been a long time coming -- but the fact is that he did make them.

Russia may be Iran's main sponsor for its nuclear program, but it has been more strict with Iran recently in demanding that Iran cooperate with the UN nuclear plant inspectors.

By the same token, maintaining strong ties with Israel is in Putin's interest as it allows Russia to undercut American influence in the region -- influence that Obama appears to be neither eager nor able to maintain to past levels.

Russian president Vladimir Putin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the Jewish Community Centre in Moscow in December 2000.
Credit: Wiki Commons

And as Israel begins to harness its new-found gas and oil resources -- and begin to export -- maybe some other countries will begin to find it in their interest to stand up for Israel in the face of the threats of Arab terrorists and their apologists.

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Technorati Tag: Richard Falk and Putin and Iran and EU.