IS EU TONING DOWN CRITICISM OF ISRAEL?

EU Tones Down Criticism of Israel - Slobadan Lekic
The shift is subtle but unmistakable. European governments - long accused of being pro-Arab - have toned down criticism of Israel, left in shock by the rise to power of Islamic Hamas which they consider a terrorist outfit. The election of Hamas has pulled the rug from under the EU's $626.5-million-a-year aid package to the Palestinians.

"The election of Hamas has...ended the almost automatic solidarity with the Palestinians," said Mark Leonard, a foreign policy analyst at London's Centre for European Reform. "They have disappointed Europeans by their divisions, their lack of organization, the spectacle of violence in Gaza" between various Palestinian factions, said Dominique Moisi of the French Institute for International Relations. "By refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist, Hamas has weakened the Palestinians' position considerably." (AP/Yahoo)

EU faults 'disproportionate' Israeli force in Gaza (YNet)
The European Union accused Israel on Friday of a disproportionate use of force against Palestinians in Gaza and of making a humanitarian crisis there worse.

It was the first time the 25-nation bloc had made such a sharp criticism of the Jewish state in the crisis triggered by the abduction of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit from a border post by Palestinian Islamic militants on June 25.

“The EU condemns the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated,” Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said in a statement on a visit to St Petersburg.