Press release – New EU Project Invites Photographers to “Occupied Palestinian Territory”

Im Tirtzu 12/02/2020 1 Comment 2,225 Views

Press Release

New EU Project Invites Photographers to “Occupied Palestinian Territory”

A new project by the European Union offers European photographers an all-expenses-paid trip to “occupied Palestinian territory” in order to “tour areas across the West Bank to capture different aspects of Palestinian life.”

“Do you want to be part of the EU Photo Marathon in Palestine?” reads the EU flyer that depicts three empty chairs against the backdrop of a concrete and graffitied portion of Israel’s security fence.

“Apply before 20 February 2020!” the flyer concludes along with the hashtag “#EU4PALESTINE” and a photo of the EU and Palestine Liberation Organization flag side-by-side.

According to the advertisement, the photo marathon will take place from March 22 to March 28 and “priority will be given to photographers who did not visit the occupied Palestinian territory previously.”

After the marathon, the photos will be exhibited in “Palestine and Europe.”

The Office of the European Union Representative in Jerusalem is organizing a Photo Marathon for young European photographers to the West Bank from Sunday 22 until Saturday 28 March 2020.

Matan Peleg, CEO of the pro-Israel watchdog organization Im Tirtzu, blasted the EU and called it to end its “sick obsession” with Israel.

“This is yet another instance in which the European Union is using the hard-earned taxes of its citizens in order to slander and delegitimize Israel,” said Peleg.

“Instead the EU should be asking what happened to the millions of euros they gave to the Palestinian Authority, other than going toward paying the salaries of terrorists,” continued Peleg.

“The EU needs to end its sick obsession with the Jewish state and stop funding anti-Israel projects and NGOs. Israel is not a punching bag for them to take out their antisemitic aggression on,” concluded Peleg.

…..

Im Tirtzu is a Zionist non-governmental organization based in Israel. Its name is derived from an epigraph appended to the frontispiece of Theodor Herzl’s novel Altneuland, ‘if you wish it, it is no fairy-tale,’ rendered into modern Hebrew in Nahum Sokolow’s translation in 1903, as Im tirtzu ein zo agadah.