The European Union still considers Hamas a terrorist organization and this week’s EU General Court’s decision to remove the Gaza group from its blacklist will have absolutely no practical implications on the ground, the EU’s ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, said.
The court, which is part of the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, annulled , “on procedural grounds,” the union’s 2001 listing of Hamas on its list of terrorist organizations, a move that greatly angered Israeli officials.
The court ruled that the original listing of Hamas as a terror group in 2001 was based not on sound legal judgment but ‘’on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet.’’
But it stressed that the decision to remove Hamas from the blacklist was based on technical grounds and does “not imply any substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a terrorist group.”
Founded in 1987 shortly after the start of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. The Palestinian group’s charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state throughout the British Palestine Mandate area.
Hamas’s military wing was added to the European Union’s first-ever terrorism blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The EU ambassador said he understood why Israeli officials are worried about the court ruling, since Hamas is “deliberately mischaracterizing” it, but added that he believes that he was able to alleviate their worries.
“We were quite surprised also,” he said of the court’s ruling. However, Hamas’s interpretation of it is “totally contrary” to its actual meaning, he asserted. “They are taking it as a political statement. Obviously this is not a political statement; a court is not making political statements. It’s only the EU member states that can make a decision as to whether they consider Hamas a terrorist organization. And nothing has changed in that regard.
“When Hamas is deliberately misinterpreting the ruling of the court,” Faaborg-Andersen continued, “of course it gives rise to concern. Obviously, I understand. But it doesn’t change anything about the facts.” In his meetings with Israeli officials he’s been trying to alleviate any worries, he said, “and it’s my impression that [my explanations] have reassured them, up to a point at least.”
The court wants to see ‘some more tangible evidence’
“It’s a technical, procedural decision that the court has reached. It doesn’t change the political position of the EU vis-à-vis Hamas, which is still that it’s a terror organization,” Faaborg-Andersen told The Times of Israel. “It’s important to point out that this has no immediate effect in terms of unfreezing the sanctions that we have against Hamas. We have an asset freeze against Hamas and Hamas members and that will stay in place.”
The EU will continue to adhere to the so-called Quartet principles, Faaborg-Andersen said, implying the union would refrain from interacting with Hamas as long as the group doesn’t renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
“We’re looking into the case now,” he said about the court’s ruling. “We’re committed to finding remedial action, be it in the form of an appeal [or through other means]. And we’re committed to putting together a stronger legal case for getting them back on the list again.”
“What the court is saying is that it would like to see some more tangible evidence,” Faaborg-Andersen explained. “We will surely find that evidence and resubmit it to the court.”
A similar scenario unfolded regarding the so-called Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka, which had to be taken off the EU’s terror list due to insufficient evidence, he said.
“When you live in a society that’s based on the rule of law, judicial courts have a very important role. Sometimes courts are examining evidence and decisions and sometimes find faults in them,” Faaborg-Andersen said. “This is just something we have to take into account and then do our level best to present a better case next time around.”
All EU sanctions against Hamas — mostly the freezing of funds — will stay in place for three months. The EU plans to appeal the court’s decision, Faaborg-Andersen said, noting that sanctions against Hamas would remain in place for the duration of the entire appeal process. The verdict’s impact “on the ground is null; it doesn’t have any practical effect,” he said.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not satisfied with the European Union’s explanation that the removal of Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations is a ‘technical matter.’’
“The burden of proof is on the European Union and we expect it to put Hamas back on the list forthwith, given that it is understood by all that Hamas — a murderous terrorist organization, the covenant of which specifies the destruction of Israel as its goal — is an inseparable part of this list.”
“Today we witnessed staggering examples of European hypocrisy: in Geneva they call for the investigation of Israel for war crimes, while in Luxemburg the European court removed Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations, Hamas that has committed countless war crimes and countless terror acts,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying.
Netanyahu’s war crimes comment was apparently a reference to a speech made earlier this week in the International Criminal Court by the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, who said the Palestinians intended to apply for membership in the ICC.
“It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil six million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing,” Netanyahu added.
“But we in Israel, we’ve learned. We’ll continue to defend our people and our state against the forces of terror and tyranny and hypocrisy,” he said.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution that “in principle” recognizes Palestinian statehood as an outcome of peace talks.
“If you look at the wording,” Ambassador Faaborg-Andersen said about that resolution, “you will find that it’s totally consistent with what has been the EU’s position on this issue all along: that we are ready to recognize a Palestinian state in due course, as a result of a negotiation process.”
However, he stressed, it was important to keep in mind that “it’s the business of states to recognize other entities, and obviously not for the European Parliament or the EU as such, for that matter.”
The present wave of parliaments of various European countries urging the recognition of Palestine are to be understood as signaling “growing impatience among the European public and their representatives — be it in national parliaments or in the European parliament — about the lack of progress toward achieving a two-state solution.”
The EU wants to see a negotiation process resume “as quickly as possible,”Faaborg-Andersen said. “That is the key message that everybody’s sending right now — to both parties. Not only to Israel, but also to the Palestinians.”