http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/eas ... rope/12641

Call for Israel to become a EU and NATO member
By David Byers Updated: 03/Jan/2007 13:07


Avidgor Lieberman, Israeli Minister for Strategic Threats : "Israel 's diplomatic and security goal... must be clear: joining Nato and entering the European Union.”

LONDON (EJP)--- An influential British pressure group has called for Israel to turn its back on the Middle East and become part of the European Union and NATO.

Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), which is affiliated to the centre-right Conservative Party that leads Tony Blair’s New Labour in the opinion polls, on Tuesday said it supported a call by Avigdor Lieberman, a right-wing Israeli Cabinet Minister, for a re-assessment of Israel’s standing in the world.

It came after Lieberman, who serves as Minister for Strategic Threats, claimed attacks by Palestinian militants were no different from terrorist acts by jihadists against members of NATO and the EU.

"Israel’s diplomatic and security goal... must be clear: joining Nato and entering the European Union," the Israeli Cabinet Minister said. "The war we are waging in the Middle East is not a war of the state of Israel alone, it is a war of the entire free world, and we are situated on the front lines. Today, Palestinian terrorism is part of the worldwide jihad. Palestinian terrorism is fuelled by al-Qa’eda, the Iranians and Hizbollah."

Enthusiastic support

Speaking to the EJP, Robert Halfon, political director of the Conservative Friends of Israel said it enthusiastically supported the call, and had long campaigned for membership of NATO. He claimed that a membership of both entities would strengthen Israel’s security.

"We have a strong view that Israel should be a member of NATO. Israel is a western country, and being under the umbrella of NATO would strengthen Israel’s security," he said.

On the EU, Halfon added that CFI also backed Lieberman’s call. "This is something we would welcome. It would strengthen the EU, Israel, and the role of democracy in the Middle East," he said.

The call by CFI for Israeli membership of the EU is part of a long-running right-wing argument in Conservative British, American and Israeli circles that Israel’s conflict with Palestinian militants is part of the wider global clash with militant jihadism.

Critics dismiss this argument saying the Palestinian question is a straightforward land dispute, and they accuse Israel of using jihadism to justify its continued partial occupation of the Palestinian West Bank.

Ties strengthening

While NATO is not offering Israel full membership in the near future, links between it and the Jewish State have been strengthening in recent years, especially in the area of intelligence about militant Islam.

Three months ago Israel became the first non-European nation chosen by NATO to work within its Individual Cooperation Programme.

The programme specifies 27 areas of cooperation including response to terrorism, intelligence sharing, political dialogue, and a host of military and civilian issues including search and rescue operations.

Full membership would afford Israel the same guarantee of mutual defence offered to all members. Historically, this meant that if one member of the alliance was attacked, the full might of NATO would come to its defence.

Israeli membership of NATO would mean America would be obliged to protect the Jewish State were it attacked by Iran, whose leadership repeatedly calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Despite being a Middle East nation, Israel’s national football team plays in the European zone for World Cup qualification and Israel has long been a member of the European broadcasting union that earns it a place in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.