Israel Matzav: Moon, Ashton to enter Gaza from Israel see results of Barack Obama school of budgeting

Moon, Ashton to enter Gaza from Israel see results of Barack Obama school of budgeting

They don't listen to me.

It seems like just yesterday that I advised the Israeli government not to let EU Chief Foreign Policy Adviser Baroness Catherine Ashton enter Gaza from Israel. Instead, the government has decided to let both Ashton enter next week and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to enter in several weeks.

"In response to the special requests ... Israel has decided to facilitate their entry [into Gaza] in order to allow them to get a first-hand impression of humanitarian activities taking place in that area," the Foreign Ministry said.

Ashton said that she wants to inspect first-hand where the EU’s "huge amount of aid” is going.

In December, Israel refused to allow a group of European legislators to enter the Gaza region, but Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin last month entered via Egypt and was the first European in his position to travel there since Operation Cast Lead. Several U.S. members of Congress, including Senator John Kelly, traveled to Gaza last year.

Hamas has claimed for three years that it faces a humanitarian crisis, but U.N. officials stated categorically to Israel earlier this week that no such situation exists today.

Do you mean to tell me that this UN statement (which has largely been ignored) is actually leading the government to believe that someone in the 'international community' will give us a fair shake? I wouldn't count on that.

JPost adds:

One diplomatic official said an exception to the policy had been made for the two because they represented multilateral organizations, not individual nations. According to the official, the concern in Jerusalem was that a flood of foreign ministers into the area would give Hamas a degree of legitimacy.

Neither Ban nor Ashton, the official said, would be meeting Hamas representatives.

While Ashton is looking into where Europe's 'huge amount of aid' is going, she might want to check here and here. It seems that Salam Fayyad went to the Barack Obama school of budgeting:

The Palestinian Authority's income rose 20% in 2009, and passed for the first time the $2 billion mark. According to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the PA's budget for 2010 will grow further, to around $3.8 billion. $1.2 billion of that will be derived from international donations.

That's growth, isn't it? Well, Fayyad went to the Barack Obama school of budgeting, but in the 'Palestinian Authority' taxes are still optional. With all the 'international aid' the 'Palestinians' are getting, who needs to pay taxes?

Israel Matzav: Moon, Ashton to enter Gaza from Israel see results of Barack Obama school of budgeting