Tony Blair has said for the first time that he and other world leaders were wrong to yield to Israeli pressure to impose an immediate boycott of Hamas after the Islamic faction won Palestinian elections in 2006. The boycott and Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza, which began the following year, are still in force today. The kidnappers eventually released Johnston after heavy pressure from the Hamas de facto government. The EU was under no obligations to align its position on financial support with that of the US and Israel. If we seemed, by our actions, to be rejecting the results then our claims to promoting democracy would be undermined.”

Source: The Guardian October 14, 2017 18:56 UTC