EU SUED FOR ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

Israeljustice.com

  TEL AVIV -- The European Union has been sued in connection with Hamas missile attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.  
    European nationals in Israel have filed suit against the EU for relaying hundreds of millions of Euros to the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported on Sept. 24. The 15 plaintiffs said the Hamas and Palestinian militia attacks on their homes in Israel's Negev Desert violated the European Treaty, which obligated the protection of EU nationals regardless of their residence.  
    "The European Union gives hundreds of millions of Euros every year to aid groups in Gaza," Mordechai Tzivin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said. "This money cannot be allowed to target European citizens."  
    Tzivin said the EU must reply to the eight-page suit by 14 Britons and an Italian national, submitted in August 2009. He said that unless the European Commission accedes to the demands of the plaintiffs the suit would be filed in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg.  
    In 2008, the EU relayed 55.6 million euro in aid to the Gaza Strip. EU states have pledged separately more than 41 million euro in additional funds to Gaza.  
    The European plaintiffs live near the Gaza Strip and their communities have come under Hamas and Palestinian militia missile and rocket strikes over the last five years. The suit was initiated by Tzivin with the European Citizens Council in Israel, which represents EU nationals in Israel.  
    The council has determined that the suit was likely to be heard by the EU. The EU has designated Hamas a terrorist entity.  
    "For me, the main issue in this lawsuit was the demand to prevent and stop EU funds from reaching Hamas," Eliahu Shannon, an author who immigrated to Israel from Britain in the late 1960s, said.