'We are ashamed of you': Maltese academics, artists blast Metsola over Gaza
EP leader has 'failed utterly' to speak out on Gaza, group says
A group of 160 Maltese writers, academics, artists and activists have citicised Roberta Metsola in an open letter, accusing her of acting “cowardly, calculating” in response to the "ethnic cleansing and genocide" unfolding in war-torn Gaza.
The group, which includes foreign nationals based in Malta, said the European Parliament president had “failed utterly at this critical moment to speak out for what is right as a man-made catastrophe unfolded in our neighbourhood enabled by European policies and European weapons”.
Metsola had “chosen to look away” from Israeli actions in Gaza, which amounted to “genocide, planned and implemented”, the group said.
“Sitting cynically on the fence is abhorrent at the best of times, let alone now... As Maltese citizens and residents, we are ashamed of you. Cowardly, calculating politicians are not what this troubled world needs.”
On Monday, Metsola reiterated past calls for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, hostages to be released and the warzone to be the subject of a ceasefire, calling the situation in the area “catastrophic” in response to media questions.
She noted that the EU's association agreement with Israel is currently under review, following a decision to that effect by the European Foreign Affairs Council last month.
Pointing to recent figures indicating that more than 54,000 people have died in Gaza since the start of Israeli’s offensive in the region, some 70 per cent women and children, the group stressed the casualties had come amidst a “relentless bombing campaign targeting densely populated zones”.
Among the signatories were Momentum chairperson Arnold Cassola, activists Wayne Flask and Andre Callus and authors Alex Vella Gera, Karl Schembri and Immanuel Mifsud.
'Statistics don't lie'
The group said those killed in Gaza had included some 180 journalists, 120 academics and 224 aid workers, the latter it said had been “murdered while fulfilling their duty to save lives in the direst of circumstances”.
"Statistics don’t lie, but they do not tell the whole truth either. Death after violent death, every horrifying atrocity, each and every one of them was carried out with impunity by a state you rushed to embrace and which you have publicly endorsed diplomatically and symbolically on multiple occasions while maintaining an eerie silence when its representatives’ genocidal language... and grinding war machine got into gear.
“With every lost opportunity to speak out, you have chosen to look away from the devastating effect of each sniper's bullet, each missile blasting a playground to bits, or a hospital, an ambulance, a crowd of desperate people seeking food and refuge.”
The group said that while the EP president had correctly stood in solidarity with Israel following Hamas’ “despicable” attacks on October 7, it asked why no official gatherings had taken place for Gazans killed during the conflict.
“We demand a moral backbone from our politicians: to speak out clearly in the face of an announced ethnic cleansing operation,” the letter read.
The group accused her of “glaring hypocrisy”, saying that while journalists “rightly demand justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia... you had nothing to say about the targeted assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh and the hundreds more journalists shot, maimed and blown up by Israel over the past 20 months”.
Addressing Metsola's visit to Gaza in February, the group said it “does not even begin to scratch the surface of what your actions – and words - should have been throughout the past 20 months”.
“Power and position demanded better of you. In this key moment, you continue to fail the hundreds of thousands of citizens across Europe who want their representatives to stand up for what is morally right.
“Tragically, this total abandonment of our core principles and values is not just a failure borne of cynical political convenience but a catastrophe for the European Union’s standing in the world.
On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza as Israeli troops opened fire near a US-backed aid centre, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.
The list of signatories
The list of signatories