Boasting of transparency, EU won't say who paid for Israel propaganda trip

Katharina von Schnurbein, a prominent Brussels official who constantly sides with Israel. (European Union)

The European Union is refusing to say if Israel has paid for activities undertaken by a prominent official.

Katharina von Schnurbein, the EU’s coordinator for combating anti-Semitism, visited Israel in late May, for what was essentially a propaganda tour. During it, she dismissed the well-documented evidence that massacres were being carried out in Gaza as “rumors about Jews.”

Exactly who footed the bill for the trip – which involved discussions with Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister – has not been disclosed. The EU’s executive, the European Commission, has invoked data protection rules to reject a freedom of information request I made seeking details about the trip’s costs and whether Israel covered them.

The European Commission’s secrecy over this matter exposes as laughable a recent claim by one of its spokespersons that it is among the world’s “most transparent public institutions.” As a basic minimum, a transparent body would be upfront about who pays for activities carried out by its employees.

In a lengthy reply to my request, the European Commission suggested that von Schnurbein needs to be shielded from scrutiny.

“The person, even though she is not a high-level official and does not form part of the senior management of the EU, has already been the subject of journalistic articles attacking not only her professional capacities, but also her personal character,” the reply stated. It did not cite any examples of such articles.

The reply amounts to willful deception.

Von Schnurbein, a Bavarian aristocrat, may not be at the top of the Brussels hierarchy. Nonetheless, she is a representative of the EU and authorized to speak on its behalf.

She belongs to the central administration of the European Commission, answering directly to Ursula von der Leyen, the institution’s president.

The European Commission’s insistence on secrecy indicates that it wishes to conceal details about von Schnurbein’s close relationship with Israel and its network of lobbyists.

Bizarre allegations

Revelations about von Schnurbein’s Israel trip in May have already proven embarrassing. The website EUObserver has published an internal paper showing that von Schnurbein made bizarre allegations during it about her own colleagues who had taken action in support of Palestinians.

These included the allegation that a bake sale organized by some Brussels officials to raise funds for a Red Cross Gaza appeal risked causing “ambient anti-Semitism.”

The revelations prompted calls by human rights activists and some lawmakers for von Schnurbein to be removed from her post.

Von Schnurbein’s job contract makes no reference to Israel or any other foreign country. As her responsibilities are limited to fighting anti-Semitism within Europe, it follows that her work should be financed solely by European governments.

Under rules applying to Brussels officials, von Schnurbein is required to only act in the European Union’s interest, not on behalf of any external state. She is obligated to seek permission from the EU’s hierarchy before accepting any gifts.

That would include trips that are paid for by foreign governments or pressure groups.

It is not the first time that the European Commission has withheld basic information about von Schnurbein’s activities.

In a separate freedom of information request, I sought details of how many staff have been allocated to von Schnurbein’s office and what tasks those staff have been assigned.

Although the European Commission rejected the request on data protection grounds, I have learned from a well-placed source that von Schnurbein heads a team of six.

That means she has far greater resources than Marion Lalisse, the EU’s coordinator against anti-Muslim hatred. Lalisse has no staff aiding her work.

That fact alone speaks volumes about how skewed the EU’s priorities are.

Rather than sticking to her actual job of protecting European Jews from persecution, von Schnurbein has weaponized anti-Semitism in order to smear Israel’s critics. She has done so with the help of a fairly sizable team.

By contrast, the fights against hatred of Muslims and racism more generally have just been given lip service by top politicians in Brussels. Worse, those politicians are encouraging xenophobia by pursuing policies hostile to refugees.

Ursula von der Leyen, lest it be forgotten, gave her complete backing to Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza in its initial stages. Her German compatriot Katharina von Schnurbein has gone to extremes in trying to downplay Israel’s most egregious crimes as mere rumors and smearing those spreading the “rumors.”

As the EU has enabled and excused the attempted extermination of Palestinians, nobody should be surprised that it is trying to hide some key details.