1,000 hells

Regarding the editorial “Israel and the EU” (May 25), Minister Yuval Steinitz is quoted as saying “the EU can go to a thousand hells.”

I fully sympathize with the minister’s frustrations. From its very inception, the EU has been a bloated dysfunctional bureaucracy. From 1980 through 1995, I worked with many European bureaucrats whose only aspiration was a high-paying sinecure with the EU or EC.

The following is a simple example of this ossified bureaucracy. For more than 50 years there has been a committee working on a single standard electrical plug for the EU. As any experienced traveler can testify, one still needs a multiplicity of adapters needed to travel in Europe.

Just imagine how they handle more complex problems.

SAMUEL DERSHOWITZ Jerusalem

There may well be an understanding in many cases of friendship between countries that even if we call out our friends, we still have their best interests at heart.

Surely the point about Yuval Steinetz’s language about the European Union is that he, like myself, no longer believes the EU has Israel’s best interests at heart, whatever their protestations are to the contrary. Yes, trade is important to both parties, but then who would today say that Turkey’s President Erdogan has Israel’s best interests at heart – yet the trade continues.

When it comes to security co-operation between the EU and Israel, many regard the relationship as a bit one-sided, with Israel doing the giving the EU taking. With that in mind, Steinetz feels he can be more robust in responding to criticism of Israel’s handling of Gaza and for the EU’s continued support of the JCPOA with Iran despite the US termination.

Where has being diplomatic language gotten Israel in the past? The EU still funds NGOs that seek to boycott Israel and still funds a Palestinian Authority whose corruption is legendary and whose intransigence in the face of US President Donald Trump’s efforts for negotiation can only lead to further “nakba” for the Palestinians it is supposed to represent.

The gap between Israel and the EU in today’s world is widening – due to EU unwillingness or inability to change its views.

PETER SCHWEITZER Tel Aviv