Does not condemn Hamas and attacks Israel: Sven von Burgsdorf, who until three months ago served as the EU ambassador to the West Bank and Gaza, attacks Israel for its response to the terrible massacre carried out by Hamas. In a video interview with a channel called Democracy Now, Burgsdorf said that "no matter what Hamas has done, it does not justify such a large use of lethal force without distinction and disproportionality with regard to the Palestinian population in Gaza."
Burgsdorf refrained from condemning Hamas' barbarism, instead claiming that it was Israel that was committing war crimes. "It is inconceivable that Israel is threatening to bomb corridors and shipments carrying humanitarian facilities and equipment. It can't be. It's another war crime if it happens."
With the Israeli side, the former European official did not even express solidarity. "I am fully aware of the hatred and frustration and deep despair that has befallen Israeli society. And when they talk about their September 11, I obviously understand that view and the emotional tension they're in right now, and it's so hard to have a rational discussion.
The European Ambassador takes off over Gaza,
"We need to be aware that we are still governed by international law. We left the Middle Ages. We have rules of conduct for war. We have rules of conduct on how to apply humanitarian principles. And no matter what Hamas has done, it does not justify the use of lethal force. It can't be that Israel has carte blanch because terrible acts, cruel and shocking acts have happened to 1,000 or even 1,200 Israelis. That's not the excuse you can use to flatten Gaza."
Burgsdorf, who is a German citizen, served until last August as the European Union's ambassador to Judea and Samaria and Ramallah. One of the last actions he took before leaving his post and retiring from the European Foreign Service was to show Gazans how to fly by motorized paraglider – the same kind of paraglider Hamas used as part of its offensive against Israel.
A July 18 Reuters report said that "the outgoing EU envoy hovered off the coast of Gaza on a rare flight designed to draw attention to the besieged Palestinian enclave."
A video posted online by the EU delegation to the Palestinians shows Sven von Burgsdorf flying off a sandy cliff seven meters above the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of the five-minute flight, at an altitude of 50 meters, the ambassador said that "once you have a free Palestine, a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same. That's why I did it. Show you the way forward. We will work for it, because this is the way to liberate Palestine."
According to the report, it was a private parachute belonging to the ambassador who was smuggled into Gaza thanks to the diplomatic immunity he enjoyed.
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