Swedish EU politician Abir Al-Sahlani: Netanyahu must go

A humanitarian cease-fire needs to happen – and Benjamin Netanyahu needs to go.

That is the message of Swedish EU politician Abir Al-Sahlani after she visited the border crossing to Gaza.

– Otherwise, it will mean death on a massive scale that we have not seen before.

Last Saturday, EU Member of Parliament Abir Al-Sahlani (C) was in Rafah, on the border between Egypt and Gaza.

She visited the site together with three other politicians from the liberal party group in the EU.

The purpose of the trip was to investigate on the spot how effective the humanitarian aid is and how well it reaches its goal. The European Commission announced in November that quadruples humanitarian aid to Gaza.

During the visit, Al-Sahlani has met people who made it from Gaza to Egypt.

– People are starving. They have no food and no water.

“Aid workers are murdered”

According to Al-Sahlani, the help that arrives is far from sufficient.

– It is blocked all the time. What comes in is far, far below what is needed. And when it does emerge, there is no functioning infrastructure. Many aid workers have been murdered by the Israeli army. It is a completely disorganized humanitarian aid.

She says it doesn’t matter how much money is raised – much is still stopped by Israel’s complicated procedures and approvals for the emergency aid.

– And when it does come out, the aid workers can’t organize it because of the bombings. The aid organizations have staff, but you can’t send people into a death zone like this.

Abir Al-Sahlani says that right now there is nothing more important than bringing about an immediate ceasefire.

– I will shout it until the world hears. That is absolutely the most important thing. Everyone says that.

Harsh words about Netanyahu: “Zero credibility”

She worries about what will happen if the ceasefire is delayed.

– People will not only die from Israeli bombs. Many, many children under the age of five have not been vaccinated against diseases. You can only imagine what happens in a single outbreak of measles.

The EU must now exert all the diplomatic pressure it can on Israel, she says.

– I personally think that Netanyahu must go. He really has zero credibility with me as a leader. We don’t need more fundamentalists in the world radicalizing their societies.

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine must also be on the agenda.

– A peaceful, political solution must be on the table again and becomes an option. And we must continue to push for the two-state solution. It is the only thing that can guarantee the safety of the Palestinian and Israeli people.