European Coalition for Israel

According to its website, the "European Coalition for Israel is a joint initiative by major international Christian pro-Israel organizations with activities in Europe to address the issue of growing anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Europe".

ECI's founding director is reportedly Tomas Sandell, a Finnish journalist.

Challenging EU policy on 'disputed' territories

In an email dated 11 April 2014, the ECI wrote of a meeting with an EU official, stating:

On Monday, April 7th, Leonello Gabrici, Head of the Middle East Division at the European External Action Service (EEAS), on behalf of Baroness Ashton, received an Open Letter from ECI that was signed by 42 European political leaders. These include government ministers and members of the Parliaments of eleven EU Member States, among them the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera from Italy and the chair of the European Parliament’s Israel delegation Bas Belder of Netherlands, as well as former Foreign Ministers of EU member states. These leaders argue that the EU’s approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the disputed territories is not only unbalanced but based on basic legal and historical misconceptions.

The message refers to the occupied territories as 'disputed', and implicitly questions the designation of settlements outside the Green Line as being 'illegal'. It continues:

The Open Letter argues that this policy pre-judges the legal status of the territories, including East Jerusalem. The legal status of these territories is extremely complex and undecided. Israel has the right to negotiate its borders as part of a peace agreement.

People

• Founding director - Tomas Sandell
• Legal counsel - Andrew Tucker

Contact

• Website: http://europeancoalitionforisrael.org
• Email: info@ec4i.org