Earlier today it was reported that the European Union was suspending all payments to the Palestinian people immediately:
The European Union is suspending all payments to the Palestinians because of what Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi called the “scale of terror and brutality” during the Hamas attacks against Israel. https://t.co/UOB75oaYXq
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 9, 2023
The commissioner made the announcement on Twitter:
•All payments immediately suspended.
•All projects put under review.
•All new budget proposals, incl. for 2023 postponed until further notice.
•Comprehensive assessment of the whole portfolio.— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) October 9, 2023
The foundations for peace, tolerance and co-existence must now be addressed.
Incitement to hatred, violence and glorification of terror have poisoned the minds of too many.
We need action and we need it now.
— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) October 9, 2023
However now all that appears to be undone as the EU has reversed course:
The European Union on late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was “immediately” suspending aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas.
“There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be “immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals … postponed until further notice.”
No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. A full European Commission statement always trumps a statement from an EU commissioner, but the reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities.
According to the “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy”, suspending the payments would have only emboldened the terrorists:
The suspension of the payments – punishing all the Palestinian people – would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) October 9, 2023
That makes zero sense. The last thing I would think the EU would want to do is fund a terrorist group. But apparently they’d rather embolden terrorism by continuing giving them money.