The President of the European Commission is under criticism over Israel.

Angry responses continue to follow regarding the statements of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the anniversary of the establishment of the Israeli occupation state, which “made the desert bloom,” according to her claim.

Von der Leyen had sent a recorded congratulatory message via Twitter, on Wednesday, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the occupying state, in which she said that Israel is the “vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East,” and that it made “the desert bloom.”

This message met with widespread Palestinian, Arab and Islamic criticism, as it considered that the Chairperson of the Commission completely ignored that the anniversary of the founding of Israel is the anniversary of the Nakba of the Palestinian people, who were displaced and killed thousands of them, and whose villages and towns were destroyed.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the statements of the European official, and considered them “inappropriate, false and discriminatory.”

The Foreign Ministry said, in a statement, that the claim that Israel made the desert bloom, “is a propaganda discourse that strips the Palestinian people of their humanity, erases them, falsifies their rich history and civilization, and whitewashes the illegal occupation and the apartheid system, and perpetuates the denial of the Nakba.” She added that the statement contradicts the European Union’s commitment to international law and human rights, just as European citizens oppose the racial erasure of the Palestinian people.

Hamas described the European Commissioner’s statements as “criminal and biased against the occupation.” Husam Badran, a member of the political bureau of the movement, said on Twitter, “The statements of the President of the European Commission are full of hatred, hatred and racism, and they contain a lot of ignorance of history and the reality on the land of Palestine.”

The head of the International Relations Office of Hamas, Musa Abu Marzouk, pointed out that “congratulating the President of the European Commission for the occupation on the anniversary of the Nakba is nothing more than a cheap propaganda campaign to whitewash the dirtiest occupation that has continued killing, racism and aggression for 75 years.”

Abu Marzouk added: “Our Arab East will return to prosperity after the end of the occupation that you planted in our land, and the strife and division that your colonization planted for our countries.”

And the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine considered, in a press statement, that the statements of the President of the European Commission are “disgraceful and fabricate lies, and prove that the European Union is a partner to the occupation in its aggression against our people.” The Front indicated that “the European Union is one of the major contributors to the establishment of this racist settler-colonial entity and the Nakba of the Palestinian people,” and “its hand will remain stained with the blood of our Palestinian people for 75 years.” And she called on the European Union to apologize to the Palestinian people for a long series of “violations and practices, and for its continued unlimited support for the entity, and to grant it immunity and escape from its crimes and massacres that it commits against the Palestinian people.” And she stressed that it is the responsibility of the European parliamentarians and the solidarity forces supporting the Palestinian people to condemn such statements, “expose the disgraceful behavior, and confront this biased policy of the occupation.”

offensive speech
On the Arab level, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, strongly criticized von der Leyen’s speech, which he said “is not only offensive to the Palestinians and their historical suffering since the Nakba…but also reflects complete identification with the Israeli narrative, which is regrettable.”

And Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for Aboul Gheit, said that the statements of the President of the European Commission congratulating Israel “disregarded, in a revealing manner, the reality of the occupation and its practices, the robbing of the rights of the Palestinians, their expulsion from their lands and other practices that violate the human rights charters that European officials always like to refer to in their their conversations.”

The Secretary-General considered that such haste in congratulating Israel for what some consider its achievements disguises a denial of the historical injustice that the Palestinian people are still subjected to at the hands of the Israeli occupation, and even reflects an inferior view of them that almost justifies the occupation and perpetuates the theft of the land.

The Spokesman noted that “the Chairperson of the Commission needs an honest review of her position, especially since her speech was devoid of any reference to the need to work to end the occupation and accelerate the emergence of a Palestinian state, noting that such positions encourage Israeli governments to persist in their intransigent positions that reject the logic of settlement.” political.”

In turn, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation confirmed that von der Leyen’s statements were “disappointing and inconsistent with human rights and international law.”

The organization, which is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said in a press statement, “These statements ignore historical, political and legal facts that extend back thousands of years, and coincide with the memory of the Nakba of Palestine, land and people, which still constitutes a dark mark in human memory and conscience and a setback to the values of freedom and justice. Following the declaration of the establishment of Israel, the colonial occupying power, and the subsequent policies of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, persecution and confiscation of the property of the indigenous Palestinian people and deprivation of their legitimate rights.

The organization called on the “European Union to stand up to its political, legal and humanitarian responsibilities towards working to end the Israeli colonial occupation, correct the historical injustice that still befalls the Palestinian people, support their legitimate rights, including their right of return, and embody the establishment of their independent state on the borders of June 4. June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This week, Israel celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding, in light of the conflict over the government’s plans for judicial reform, which its opponents see as a threat to the alleged democracy in the occupying state.

On Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that Israel was facing “the most serious internal crisis since the founding of the state.”

Many see the reform sought by the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu as “changing the world order.”

In addition to the internal crisis in Israel, the violence of the occupation forces and settlers has increased this year, as the army carried out numerous raids and settlers launched attacks, in which more than 90 Palestinians were killed since January.