Based on its priorities, it looks like the EU thinks that Israel really has major problems in conflict prevention, democracy, governance and human rights - compared to its Arab neighbors.
Here is a chart showing the number of projects the EU is funding, by their categories, in four Middle East nations:
Conflict Prevention
|
17
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
The environment /natural resources
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Governance, democracy, human rights and support for economic and institutional reforms
|
38
|
6
|
2
|
5
|
Human development
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
Multi-sectors
|
2
|
2
|
26
|
21
|
Rural development, territorial planning, agriculture and food security
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
Social cohesion and employment
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
Infrastructure, communications and transport
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
Trade and regional integration
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Water and energy
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
These webpages are truly mind-blowing. While the EU spends, for example, €149,914 to teach highly educated Russian immigrants in Israel to be more supportive of the "peace process," it does not spend a dime on specifically teaching Egyptian Muslims that Copts are human beings. (To be fair, there is a €17,000,000 program in Egypt simply called "Promotion and protection of human rights" which gives no details as to what exactly it does. Maybe it mentions Copts. Who knows?)
€247,668 goes to an Israeli NGO to promote women's rights " in accordance with international commitments made by the state of Israel." Jordan gets €200,000 for its women's rights program, Yemen gets €33,498 and Egypt - where essentially every woman is sexually harassed - gets nothing.
There is an EU project in Israel, costing €130,625 to promote freedom of expression. Because that is a major problem in Israel, apparently. There are no similar projects in the three Arab countries I looked at. In fact, not one of their projects included the word "freedom."
Another EU project in Israel is to support anti-racism education. The other countries? Nada. Racism among Arabs? Not a problem to the EU.
The list of EU projects in Israel goes on and on...two programs protecting rights for asylum seekers, four separate programs against alleged Israeli torture, and every single left wing NGO you can think of (Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence, B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Gisha, Rabbis for Human Rights...) is getting hundreds of thousands of euros.
Arab anti-Israel organizations get funded through the EU-Israel program as well, such as Shabab "to mainstream human rights to face racist trends in Israel."
Very little can be found to help poverty-stricken Jews in Israel, however.
Nothing is being spent in Egypt or Jordan about strengthening their peace treaties with Israel. Nothing that promotes normalization (with one tiny exception.) Nothing addressing Arab anti-semitism. Nothing about incitement in Arab media. These aren't problems, you see.
The EU is making clear that it believes that Israel is the Middle East country that needs its wisdom and influence the most. It is even clearer, based on these projects, that the EU considers Israel and only Israel to be the obstacle to peace in the Middle East, and that Israeli Jews are the most racist and intolerant group in the entire region.
I wonder if anyone audits these funds at all. What are the success criteria? Where is the transparency? Or do the anti-Zionist NGOs have a free annual income from the EU in perpetuity, as long as they put the right code words in their descriptions ("justice," "anti-racism," "rights"....)?
Well, that's not quite true. These NGOs also have to churn out reports that prove Israeli Jews are bigots. The smallest incidents must be magnified and exaggerate and documented in excruciating detail, in order to ensure that the EU money spigot flows forever.
(h/t Irene)