ATHENS (WJC)–According to the ‘Jerusalem Post’, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos has returned an Israeli gift of three bottles of Golan wine in protest against Israel’s “illegal occupation” and the military action in Gaza.
The Israeli Embassy in Athens had sent the wine to Pangalos, who is in charge of coordinating Greek foreign and defense policy as well as economic and social policy, as a gift for the festive season. In a letter sent to the Embassy together with the returned wine, Pangalos said he had been taught not to steal or accept products of theft. “So I cannot possibly accept this gift and I must return it back to you. As you know, your country occupies illegally the Golan Heights which belong to Syria, according to international law and numerous decisions by the international community,” Pangalos was quoted by the ‘Jerusalem Post’ as writing to Israel’s ambassador in Greece, Ali Yihiye.
Referring to Nazi atrocities in Greece and Poland during World War II, Pangalos went on to state that the actions “of the Israel military in Gaza remind the Greek people of holocausts such as in Kalavrita, or Doxato, or Distomo, and certainly in the ghetto of Warsaw.”
He called for an end to Hamas’s terrorist activities but also likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany. “I take the opportunity to express my hope that Israel will find security into its internationally recognized borders and the terrorist activities against Israel territory by Hamas or anybody else will be contained and made impossible, but I also hope that your government will cease practicing the policy of collective punishment, which was applied on a mass scale by Hitler and his armies.”
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress
In the 1960s, Pangalos fought against the military dictatorship in Greece, and in 1968, the junta deprived him of his Greek citizenship, which was later restored. Between 1996 and 1999, he served as Greece’s foreign minister. Pangalos is famous for his colorful language and his derogatory comments about foreign dignitaries. During the 1990s he described the Turkish establishment as “murderers, rapists and thieves”.