Belgian Lawmaker Slams European Warning 'Avoid Israeli Visas'

Belgian Parliament Member Frederique Ries this week protested the seeming willingness of the European Union to cave into Arab anti-Israel restrictions.Ries slammed an email that she received from the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee requesting that its legislators present passports without Israeli visas during a November 14 visit to Syria and Lebanon.Both Syria and Lebanon are officially enemies of Israel and continue to collude with Iran in sponsoring attacks on citizens of the Jewish State by Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon and the Hamas terrorist organization which controls Gaza. While Syrian troops left Lebanon in a high profile withdrawal two and a half years ago, the Damascus government is believed to be pulling the strings in Beirut and is suspected of assassinating leading anti-Syrian figures such as former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and more recently, Parliament Member Antoine Ghanem. The question of continued Syrian influence is at the heart of Lebanon's choice of its next president.Reis, a six-term lawmaker, acknowledged that the directive may have been a "purely administrative" matter. She nonetheless called for a response "at the highest level" asking the countries concerned to abandon the discriminatory practice."These requirements are contrary to our practices and values,” Ries wrote in a letter to European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering quoted by the European Jewish News. "It is unacceptable that we allow that member countries of the Euro-Mediterranean association with which we have signed agreements specify that passports of MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) traveling within an official UN (United Nations) delegation cannot bear an Israeli stamp." She added, "We should not let them decide how we want to lead our foreign policy. Our freedom of movement and freedom of thought must be respected."The Belgian lawmaker, who presently serves as a substitute on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and as a member of the Delegation for relations with Israel, spent 17 years as a broadcast journalist and producer. She also served five years as Vice Chairwoman of the Hebrew State Inter-group.
Ernie Singer contributed to this story.

by Hana Levi Julian

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