—————————————————–
Islamic Human Rights Commission
—————————————————–
24 March 2010
ACTION ALERT: EU/Palestine – Write to EU commissioners to express outrage against the inclusion of Israel in the “European Security Programme”
Contents
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Action required
4. Sample letter
1. Summary
The European Commission has recently announced that it has granted more research funding to Israel’s military projects than most of the EU states under the European Security Program. Some of the notorious Israeli firms who are actively participating in the ethnic cleansing and war crimes in the occupied Palestine have been granted billions of Euros as part of joint ‘security research’ projects.
Please write to EU commissioners to express your outrage regarding EU’s involvement in Israeli war crimes by squandering significant amounts of its taxpayer’s money.
2. Background
European Security Research Programme (ESRP) was founded in 1984 to boost European security and engender the growth of a globally competitive security industry in Europe. It has a €1.4bn EU budget[1] per year, however their latest project, FP7, has a seven-year budget of €53 billion.
EU considers Israel to be virtually a ‘member state’ as stated last September by Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy. Thus, Israel has been included in the ‘European research area’ and some of the notorious Israeli ‘security’ firms have been awarded and subsidized with billion euro contracts. Some of these companies are Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned manufacturer of drones that carry out flagitious assassination of Palestinian activists, Motorola, producer of ‘virtual fences’ around Israeli settlements, and Elbit Systems, responsible for building the parts of the wall around al-Quds [2].
According to EU statistics Israel is listed at the top amongst the non-EU countries that has received funding from EU in per capita. In fact the amount of funding even exceeds some of the EU countries in the program.
By supporting Israel’s ‘security’ apparatus, the EU becomes complicit with ongoing war crimes and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians that has recently been adduced by the Goldstone report. The EU should immediately halt all co-operation with Israel especially in the field of ‘security’ and grants that has been awarded to Israel. It should rather focus on development and poverty that is rampant in its borders.
Note to Editors:
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/25/eu-security
[2] http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/should-the-eu-subsidise-israeli-security-/67436.aspx
3. Action required
Please write to express your outrage to Catherine Ashton Vice-President of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and copy it to José Manuel Barroso the President of the European Union regarding the EU’s involvement in Israeli war crimes.
4. Sample letter
——————————————————————————————
A sample letter is given below for your convenience. Please note that model letters can be sent directly or adjusted as necessary to include further details. If you receive a reply to the letter you send, we request you to send a copy of the letter you sent and the reply you received to IHRC. This is very important as it helps IHRC to monitor the situation with regards to our campaigns and to improve upon the current model letters. It is preferable that letters be sent via post, or otherwise by fax and/or email.
——————————————————————————————
Sample letter to Baroness Catherine Ashton Vice-President, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. You may write to Baroness Catherine Ashton via her email address catherine.ashten@ec.europa.eu, and you may CC that to her spokesperson lutz.guellner@ec.europa.eu.
[Your name]
[Your address]
Catherine Ashton
Vice-President,
High Representative
of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy
European Commission
B-1049 Brussels BELGIUM
[Date]
Dear Mrs. Ashton,
Re: Inclusion of Israel in the European Security Programme
I am utterly shocked and outraged over the Commission’s recent announcement that it has granted billions of Euros to Israeli firms and companies, under the European Security Program. Funds have been awarded to some of the notorious Israeli firms that are actively contributing to the ethnic cleansing and war crimes in occupied Palestine.
Some of these companies are Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned manufacturer of drones that carry out flagitious assassination of Palestinian activists, Motorola, producer of ‘virtual fences’ around Israeli settlements, and Elbit Systems, responsible for building the parts of the wall around Jerusalem. According to EU statistics Israel is listed at the top amongst the non-EU countries that have received funding from EU in per capita. In fact the amount of funding even exceeds some of the EU countries in the program.
By supporting Israel’s ‘security’ apparatus, the EU becomes complicit with ongoing atrocities and the war crimes that has recently been adduced by the Goldstone report. The EU should immediately halt supporting war criminals and co-operating with Israel, especially in the field of ‘security’. It should rather focus on development and poverty that is rampant in its borders.
I look forward to your reply regarding this urgent matter.
Yours sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your name]
——————————————————————————————
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below
——————————————————————————————
IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Please help IHRC by visiting https://www.ihrc.org.uk/catalog and making a donation or buying an item from our on-line store.
If you want to subscribe to the IHRC list please send an email to subscribe@ihrc.org
If you want to unsubscribe from the IHRC list please send an email from your subscribed email address to unsubscribe@ihrc.org
If you are reusing this alert, please cite the source.
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below.
“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”
Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75
Join the Struggle for Justice. Join IHRC.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom
Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org
Islamic Human Rights Commission
—————————————————–
24 March 2010
ACTION ALERT: EU/Palestine – Write to EU commissioners to express outrage against the inclusion of Israel in the “European Security Programme”
Contents
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Action required
4. Sample letter
1. Summary
The European Commission has recently announced that it has granted more research funding to Israel’s military projects than most of the EU states under the European Security Program. Some of the notorious Israeli firms who are actively participating in the ethnic cleansing and war crimes in the occupied Palestine have been granted billion of Euros as part of joint ‘security research’ projects.
Please write to EU commissioners to express your outrage regarding EU’s involvement in Israeli war crimes by squandering significant amounts of its taxpayer’s money.
2. Background
European Security Research Programme (ESRP) was founded in 1984 to boost European security and engender the growth of a globally competitive security industry in Europe. It has a €1.4bn EU budget[1] per year, however their latest project, FP7, has a seven-year budget of €53 billion.
EU considers Israel as a ‘member state’ as last September, Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief stated in Jerusalem. Thus, Israel has been included in the ‘European research area’ and some of the notorious Israeli ‘security’ firms have been awarded and subsidized with billion euro contracts. Some of these companies are Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned manufacturer of drones that carry out flagitious assassination of Palestinian activists, Motorola, producer of ‘virtual fences’ around Israeli settlements, and Elbit Systems, responsible for building the parts of the wall around al-Quds [2].
According to EU statistics Israel is listed at the top amongst the no non-EU country that has received funding from EU in per capita. In fact the amount of funding even exceeds some of the EU countries for the program.
By supporting Israel’s ‘security’ apparatus, the EU becomes complicit with ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and the war crimes that has recently been adduced by the Goldstone report. The EU should immediately halt all co-operation with Israel especially in the field of ‘security’ and grants that has been awarded to Israel. It should rather focus on development and poverty that is rampant in its borders.
Note to Editors:
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/25/eu-security
[2] http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/should-the-eu-subsidise-israeli-security-/67436.aspx
3. Action required
Please write to express your outrage to Catherine Ashton Vice-President of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and copy it to José Manuel Barroso the President of the European Union regarding the EU’s involvement in Israeli war crimes.
4. Sample letter
——————————————————————————————
A sample letter is given below for your convenience. Please note that model letters can be sent directly or adjusted as necessary to include further details. If you receive a reply to the letter you send, we request you to send a copy of the letter you sent and the reply you received to IHRC. This is very important as it helps IHRC to monitor the situation with regards to our campaigns and to improve upon the current model letters. It is preferable that letters be sent via post, or otherwise by fax and/or email.
——————————————————————————————
Sample letter to the EU commissioners:
[Your name]
[Your address]
Catherine Ashton
Vice-President,
High Representative
of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy
European Commission
B-1049 Brussels BELGIUM
[Date]
Dear Mrs. Ashton,
Re: Inclusion of Israel in the European Security Programme
I am utterly shocked and outraged over the Commission’s recent announcement that it has granted billions of Euros to Israeli firms and companies, under the European Security Program. Funds have been awarded to some of the notorious Israeli firms that are actively contributing to the ethnic cleansing and war crimes in occupied Palestine.
Some of these companies are Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned manufacturer of drones that carry out flagitious assassination of Palestinian activists, Motorola, producer of ‘virtual fences’ around Israeli settlements, and Elbit Systems, responsible for building the parts of the wall around Jerusalem.
According to EU statistics Israel is listed at the top amongst the no non-EU countries that have received funding from EU in per capita. In fact the amount of funding even exceeds some of the EU countries in the program.
By supporting Israel’s ‘security’ apparatus, the EU becomes complicit with ongoing atrocities and the war crimes that has recently been adduced by the Goldstone report. The EU should immediately halt supporting war criminals and co-operating with Israel, especially in the field of ‘security’. It should rather focus on development and poverty that is rampant in its borders.
I look forward to your reply regarding this urgent matter.
Yours sincerely,
[Your signature]
[Your name]
——————————————————————————————
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below
——————————————————————————————
IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Please help IHRC by visiting https://www.ihrc.org.uk/catalog and making a donation or buying an item from our on-line store.
If you want to subscribe to the IHRC list please send an email to subscribe@ihrc.org
If you want to unsubscribe from the IHRC list please send an email from your subscribed email address to unsubscribe@ihrc.org
If you are reusing this alert, please cite the source.
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below.
“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”
Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75
Join the Struggle for Justice. Join IHRC.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom
Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org