Despite public condemnations of Israeli actions, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has come under fire for what critics claim to be an inadequate response to the serious conditions faced by journalists and civilians in Gaza.
In response to harsh comments from Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of late Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Metsola admitted that “far too many civilians and far too many journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza.”
Caruana Galizia had condemned Metsola and other European People’s Party (EPP) leaders for their inability to speak out with the same intensity for hungry Gaza reporters as they did after his mother’s murder. “Are they children of a smaller god?” he asked as organizations such as AFP cautioned their Gaza-based journalists might starve from restricted access to aid.
Metsola has repeatedly and will continue to speak against this; Matthew Caruana Galizia is correct.”
Caruana Galizia, though, was unhappy. “Imagine calling 112 and instead of help, you get a press release… Every moment without EU sanctions or trade suspension is a moment that enables new atrocities,” he remarked.
Critics contend that words without enforcement actions from the EU’s most powerful political bloc amount to political theater amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, even though Metsola has openly backed journalists and called for peace.
