Debate contributions by Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, in the face of the very alarming increase in anti-Semitism in Europe, I would also like to raise my voice in relation to the increase in hate crimes against Christianity in Europe. The latest data we have speak of 748 recorded hate crimes against Christians in Europe. These data are very, very far from the tremendous data that speak of 365 million persecuted Christians in the world, but it shows that it is not a phenomenon alien to European borders. It should be noted that when Christianity is attacked, it is not only attacking people's individual religious freedom, but it is a direct attack on the waterline of Western culture. The attacks on this religion what they do is attack the religion that inspires the values of dignity and equality of the human being. Therefore, we must warn that denying the Judeo-Christian roots of Europe and the influence of Christian-humanist principles in the construction of the European project has always been one of the most perverse strategies of the radical left, and we must remain vigilant and defend Christian culture and the European way of life.

Mr President, it is clear that the left does not want to learn: insists on the need to intervene in the economy through new taxes, without caring in the least about the low revenue achieved by these policies wherever they have been applied, their zero redistributive effect and the great damage caused to economic growth. The left persists in its demagogic discourses through which it points out and blames evil enemies who cause all evils, regardless of the fact that it is precisely its policies that end up harming and impoverishing those it says it wants to defend. The European Union does not need more taxes or more interventionism. If we want to discuss taxation, let us do so on a tax policy that incentivises – not penalises – hiring and saving, creates opportunities, helps us to be more competitive and facilitates investment and the attraction of talent, as well as lower tax burdens, efficiency in spending and management, economic growth and job creation. This is the recipe that works.

Madam President, I would like to react to the intervention of Mr Borrell, whom I thank, of course, for condemning the terrible attacks of 7 October on behalf of the European Union and, of course, for calling for the immediate release of the hundreds of hostages still held by Hamas. However, I wanted to make it clear that I am concerned about some attempt to create an equidistance between what is Israel and what is Hamas. We must remember once again in this Parliament that Israel is a democratic state fighting terrorist organisations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and I have missed the fact that there was no reference to these terrorist organisations using the civilian population as human shields. I do not know whether international law allows command centres to be set up in hospitals or schools. Israel is a democratic state fighting against two terrorist organizations, and under the protection of Iran, to which you have not referred and it is important to remember that its ambassadors are at ease in the States of the European Union.

Madam President, Venezuela is a great country that has been suffering a long totalitarian and dictatorial nightmare. It is macabre that it presents itself as the government of the people and defender of human rights to a regime that has expelled eight million people into exile, that has imprisoned and tortured thousands of Venezuelans and that systematically violates the rule of law, the separation of powers, individual rights and private property. Let's call things by their name. Venezuela suffers a dictatorship that violates human rights and, before that, there are three positions. The first is to support the criminal dictatorship, as some radical left-wing formations do in this Parliament and which, fortunately, are a minority, but which, unfortunately, are part of the Government of my country, in Spain. The second is to be cowardly silent in the face of the excesses of the criminal dictatorship, pretending that it is done and pretending that it is pacified, when the dictator and the retaliated, the criminal and the victim are really put on the same level. This is what the former president of my country, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, represents, one of the main responsible for the permanence of the dictator Maduro in power. But there is another option: to fight the dictatorship from the unity of the democrats. Democracy and freedom are being destroyed in Venezuela. That is why we must recognize the new legitimate government of Venezuela and recognize Edmundo González as the winner of the elections. And we must denounce the persecution of the opposition and, especially, the persecution of María Corina Machado, who is in danger. Therefore, let's unite the Democrats for a free Venezuela.

The best proof that the State of Israel is a free democracy is that its citizens can take to the streets to protest against their rulers whenever they consider it, they can go out and criticize their governments, they have elections and they change their governments: that is the best example that democracy in Israel needs to be defended so that they can continue to protest whenever they want; Unfortunately, this is not the case in Gaza.

Madam President, Commissioner, on 7 October 2023, the terrorist organisation Hamas murdered more than 1200 Israelis and abducted more than 250 innocent people, including children, in a bloody and inhumane attack on the democratic State of Israel. It is key to remember this date and this terrible attack so as not to lose focus and fall into biased stories that seem to pretend to forget this massacre, because it was that terrorist massacre that triggered Israel's legitimate reaction and the legitimate defense of its borders, its citizens, its freedoms and its existence as a State. I want to be very clear: Israel is a democratic state fighting a terrorist organization that has turned Gaza's civilian population into human shields and hostages to its barbarism: a civilian population that is suffering the terrible consequences of the war and a civilian population that causes us profound pain and to which we give the most sincere support from the European Union; a civilian population that is demanding an end to this war, of course, but the end of the war cannot happen without the release of the hostages, without the assurance that the State of Israel can exist in peace and freedom and without the disappearance of terrorist organizations that sow terror in the region. The European Union and all Western democracies must have a firm commitment to defending democracy, freedom and human rights in the Middle East against terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah: Our cause must always be with democracy and freedom.