EU top diplomat repeats claim Israel helped create Hamas

By Agencies 26 February 2024, 7:41 pm 19 Edit

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks to the media ahead of a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on February 19, 2024. (Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD/AFP)

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell repeats his claim that Israel helped create the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which it is battling to crush in Gaza.

Borrell speaks in response to questions about his assertion in January that Israel had “created” and “financed” the Islamist group.

“I do not say that (Israel) financed it by sending a check, but it has enabled the development of Hamas” as a rival to leading Palestinian party Fatah, he says, in a forum at a business school in Madrid.

“It is an unquestionable reality that Israel has bet on dividing the Palestinians, creating a force to oppose Fatah,” he says.