EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reiterated today that Israel has “encouraged the growth” of the Palestinian movement Hamas, the group responsible for the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israeli soil that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. .

Asked at a forum in Madrid about controversial statements he made in January when he said Israel “created” and “financed” Hamas, the Socialist Spanish politician stuck to his point.

“That Israel promoted the division of the Palestinians by creating a force that would oppose Fatah it is an indisputable truth. I’m not saying he funded her by sending her a check, but that he facilitated the growth of Hamas,” Borrell said.

Borrell said he was referring to “a well-known phrase of Mr. Netanyahu,” the Israeli prime minister, “that he said publicly in front of his parliamentary group, where he said that those who oppose the two-state solution should (…) facilitate (… ) the financing of Hamas”. He did not provide further details.

Hamas was founded in December 1987 by a group of Islamist militants who came from the Muslim Brotherhood. The acronym means “Islamic Resistance Movement” in Arabic and its aim was to compete with the most important popular movement, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. Twenty years later, in June 2007, after a near-civil war against Fatah, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. The movement, which advocates armed struggle against Israel, is designated a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Israel.

Borel also asserted his “right” to criticize Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, “without being accused of anti-Semitism.”

“That does not stop me from considering the Israeli military response in Gaza to be disproportionate” because it caused “an excessive number of civilian casualties,” he added. He also noted that “everyone (seems to) agree” with the two-state solution “except for the Netanyahu government, which has been blocking this solution for 30 years.”