Speech at the plenary session on the despicable terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law and the humanitarian situation in Gaza
I want to believe that we will be unanimous in voting for this joint resolution on the tragedies that Israelis and Palestinians are enduring today.
I hope so, even though this text is too long, because we really only have three things to say.
The first is that we are revolted by this Hamas massacre. The second is that punishment for a crime cannot be collective punishment. The third is that so many horrors, including those of last night, oblige the Israelis and Palestinians to immediately reopen negotiations leading to the only possible peace: the coexistence of two states.
Dear colleagues, our duty today is to impose these negotiations, to offer everyone guarantees of security and to say loud and clear that we are prepared to withdraw our aid and trade agreements if everyone continues to refuse to make the compromises that are essential to bring this hundred-year war to an end.
There must be no pro-Israelis or pro-Palestinians in this Parliament. In the Union’s Parliament, there must be only supporters of peace, of a just and lasting peace.