Don’t push Israel on the Palestinians, Rivlin urges new EU envoy

President Reuven Rivlin on Monday welcomed the European Union’s new envoy to Israel, hailing bilateral relations but also admonishing the organization for its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Israel is part of Europe,” Rivlin told Emanuele Giaufret minutes after Giaufret presented him with his letter of credence, thus formally starting his term. “We’re very happy to be in Asia, we’re very happy to be in the Middle East, but we actually are connected with Europe.”

Rivlin then proceeded to speak of the common fight against terrorism and anti-Semitism before addressing the “real tragedy” that is Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.

“Unfortunately, from time to time you really believe that by forcing either the Israelis or the Palestinians, you can bring to an end the conflict,” Rivlin told Giaufret. “Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, and you know it very well. And we have to find a way to make it possible for both sides to understand that both sides have to face reality.”

Israeli officials often complain about what they perceive as the EU’s preoccupation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and accuse Brussels of a pro-Palestinian bias. In July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced as “crazy” the union’s insistence on conditioning some agreements with Israel on progress in the peace process.

Rivlin also asked Giaufret to pay attention to Iran’s attempts to establish itself militarily on Israel’s border, warning that the Islamic Republic is seeking to get access to the Mediterranean, which would threaten Europe as well. Linking the Israeli-Palestinian question with Jerusalem’s insistence on confronting Iran was “problematic,” he said.

Giaufret stressed that Israel and Europe have a “common heritage,” intensive trade relations, flourishing scientific cooperation and increasing tourism in both directions.

“Israel and EU are very close to each other, for many different reasons,” he said, before addressing the more controversial aspects of the relationship.

“We do have disagreements from time to time, but I think these are disagreements among friends. And we can discuss and sit down,” he said. “Europe is a peace project, fundamentally. And we know how hard it is to reach peace because we’ve been fighting for so many centuries among each other. And the European project has managed to put us together.”

Israel and the EU share values of democracy, rule of law, human rights, said Giaufret, who holds a PhD in the history of international relations from the University of Florence.

“It is not an easy thing to uphold these values. We know it from our own experience, every day. It’s always a fight to remind ourselves that we have to stick to democracy because it’s the foundation of our societies. And I know we have a friend in Israel, someone we can talk to.”

Thank you @PresidentRuvi for a warm welcome. I look forward to working to furthering EU ISRAELI relations https://t.co/QJNSDRA8mC

— Emanuele Giaufret (@EGiaufretEU) October 23, 2017

Before arriving in Tel Aviv to replace Lars Faaborg-Andersen, whose term as EU ambassador to Israel ended in the summer, Giaufret served as head of the Division for Democracy and Electoral Observation within the EU’s external action branch.

Previously, he headed the Political and Trade Section at the EU embassy in Tel Aviv, where he got married and where the first of his three sons were born.

“On a personal note, I am extremely happy to be back in the country that I love, a country where I had fantastic years in the past,” he said. “I am sure I will spend another fantastic four years in Israel.”