‘’We respect the General Court of the European Union's judgement delivered today annulling measures against Hamas, namely the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation and the freezing of Hamas' funds,’’ said Wednesday a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
She added in a statement: ‘’This legal ruling is clearly based on procedural grounds and it does not imply any assessment by the Court of the substantive reasons for the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
‘’It is a legal ruling of a court, not a political decision taken by the EU governments. The EU continues to uphold the Quartet principles,’’ the statement reads. The Quartet principles ban engagement with Hamas until it forswears terrorism, recognizes Israel, recognizes Israel, and accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
‘’The EU institutions are studying carefully the ruling and will decide on the options open to them. They will, in due course, take appropriate remedial action, including any eventual appeal to the ruling. In case of an appeal the restrictive measures remain in place,’’ the spokesperson said.
The EU's External Action Service said an EU court's decision earlier in the day taking Hamas off the EU's terrorist list was a legal, not a political decision, that will likely be appealed.
The statement was released soon after Jerusalem responded angrily to the EU General Court’s decision, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Israel was “not satisfied” with the explanations of the EU that Hamas's removal is only a technical matter.
According to the “technical issue” argument, Hamas was removed from the list because the evidence used to place the organization on the list did not meet European standards. The original listing of the Islamist group in 2003 was based not on sound legal judgments but on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet, the court said.
Two central EU countries have already been working on a dossier providing the court with the evidence that will satisfy it.
“The burden of proof is on the EU and we expect them to immediately return Hamas to the list where everyone realizes they should be,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization whose charter says that its aim is to destroy Israel. We will continue to fight it with determination and strength so that it will never realize its aims."
He also criticized the "staggering examples of European hypocrisy," that were exhibited Wednesday in the EU decisions to remove Hamas from the terror blacklist and to symbolically recognize a Palestinian state.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with visiting Republican Senator Joni Ernst, Netanyahu said, "In Geneva they call for the investigation of Israel for war crimes while in Luxemburg the EU court removed Hamas from the terror list. Hamas that has committed countless war crimes and countless terror attacks."
He referenced the Holocaust, saying that, "It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil 6 million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing. But we in Israel, have learned.
"We'll continue to defend our people and our state against the forces of terror and tyranny and hypocrisy," Netanyahu said.
In a meeting Wednesday at Israel’s foreign ministry in Jerusalem, EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen said that EU intends to do everything it can to get Hamas back on the terror list.
The EU had asked Israeli officials not to cause a public row over the affair, according to Channel 10, and Jerusalem had kept quiet until Netanyahu’s statement Wednesday.