The European Union issued Tuesday a corrected version of a speech by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton which had angered Israel and the Jewish communities in Europe because it appeared to link the shooting at the Jewish school in Toulouse and Gaza.
The new transcript of Catherine Ashton's remarks by on the EU website mentions the situation of children in both Gaza and the southern Israeli town of Sderot after the first version only mentioned Gaza.
A video of her speech Monday showed she indeed mentioned Sderot, a town regularly by rocket attacks from the Hamas-led Gaza Strip.
Here is the transcript of her speech on Monday in Brussels at the “high-level conference Engaging youth – Palestine Refugees in the changing Middle East” organized by UNWRA, the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestinian Refugees:
"We are gathered here because we have recognised the potential of the youth of Palestine. Against all the odds, they continue to learn, to work, to dream and aspire to a better future. And the days when we remember young people who have been killed in all sorts of terrible circumstances – the Belgian children having lost their lives in a terrible tragedy and when we think of what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened in Norway a year ago, when we know what is happening in Syria, when we see what is happening in Gaza and Sderot and in different parts of the world – we remember young people and children who lose their lives. Here are young people who are asking not to be leaders of the future, but to be taken seriously as leaders of today. And it is to them that we should look and to them we should listen and it is to them that I pay tribute."
Earlier on Tuesday, Ashton’s spokesman, Michael Mann, denied that she ever compared the Toulouse shooting and the situation in Gaza. He issued the following statement: "The High Representative (Catherine Ashton) strongly condemns the killings at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse yesterday and extends her sympathies to the families and friends of the victims and to the people of France and the Jewish community."
"We want to make this clear, because her words yesterday at the UNRWA event were grossly distorted by one of the news agencies," the spokesman added.
"In her remarks, the High Representative referred to tragedies taking the lives of children around the world and drew no parallel whatsoever between the circumstances of the Toulouse attack and the situation in Gaza," he added.
"She wanted to draw attention to the unfortunate fate of children around the world who lose their lives. Any indication or suggestion that there is a comparison or a parallel is incorrect," he told reporters.
But Michael Mann didn’t indicate that she had talked about Sderot too at the Palestinian youth conference.
The denial came after a day filled with criticism from Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish communities.
"I am really saddened by the distortion of my remarks," she told the EU parliament's foreign affairs committee. "I drew no parallel whatsoever between this tragedy and events elsewhere in the Middle East.
"I condemn unreservedly the terrible murders at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse yesterday and extend my sympathies to the families and friends of the victims, to the people of France and the Jewish community."
EU officials contacted Israeli counterparts to clarify Ashton's remarks, an EU diplomat said.
Before the new transcript was released, Netanyahu but also Israel’s Defence Minister and Foreign Minister all slammed Ashton’s remarks.
"What especially outrages me is the comparison between a targeted massacre of children and the surgical defensive actions of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces), intended to strike at terrorists using children as human shields," Netanyahu said.
"The tragedy and ruthlessness in this act are striking; barbarity and inhumanity that is indescribable," the Prime Minister said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Ashton's comments "were not appropriate and he expressed the hope that she would re-examine and reverse them," his office said.
Lieberman said there could be no comparison between the Toulouse shooting and the situation in Gaza. "Israel is the most moral country in the world even as it is forced to fight against terrorists who act from within a civilian population," the statement said.
"The Israeli army does everything possible to avoid harm to that population, even though it supports terrorists," it added.
"The children Ashton should be talking about are those in the south of Israel who live in fear after the rocket attacks coming from the Gaza Strip."
Defence Minister Ehud Barak called Ashton's remarks "outrageous."
"The comparison made by Ashton between what is happening in Gaza to what happened in Toulouse, and what is going on in Syria every day, is outrageous and has absolutely no grounding in reality." he said.
"The Israeli military operates in Gaza with great care and precision in order to protect the lives of innocents. I hope that Catherine Ashton quickly realizes her mistake and rethinks her comments."