Israel's Embassy requests deputy Bacalbasa to withdraw his 'outrageous and untrue statements'

The Embassy of the State of Israel, having learned about the "outrageous and untrue" statements of Social Democrat deputy Nicolae Bacalbasa, is asking him to withdraw them. 

The Embassy of the State of Israel has learned about the "outrageous and untrue" statements of Social Democrat deputy Nicolae Bacalbasa. On behalf of the Jewish State, we want to bring to the attention of the Romanian politician that his statements distort the facts about the situation in the last months at the border with the Gaza Strip, and we would appreciate it if Mr. deputy sought in-depth information before making inappropriate and shocking comparisons. The violent attacks on Israeli civilians, coordinated in recent months by the Hamas terrorist group, will never remain unanswered on our part. The State of Israel will always defend its people against any attempt to suppress it, the Embassy of Israel in Romania said in a release on Wednesday. 

The document further states that the PSD deputy's claims are an insult to the peaceful Romanian protesters who were present in Bucharest's Victoriei Square, linking them to Hamas terrorists. 

We therefore publicly ask Mr Bacalbasa to withdraw his statements and make sure that such inappropriate associations are no longer incorporated in his future rhetoric, the Israeli Embassy said. 

PSD deputy Nicolae Bacalbasa said the protesters at the August 10 rally who filed complaints at the Prosecutor's Office should be punished, and drew a parallel between the incidents in Victoriei Square and the Gaza Strip clashes. 

"Anyway, in my opinion, all those who have filed complaints should be immediately punished on three counts: participation in an illegal demonstration, as per Romanian law, participation in a rally after 21:00 hrs and staying on in this area, after the Gendarmerie had issued all the legal venue-clearing warnings. For four months now, protests have been taking place at the Gaza - Israel border, a border that is actually an eight-meter high concrete wall, and in four months the Israeli border police have shot dead 171 people and injured several thousand. I didn't see any violent reaction to this, ... claims that local law is being violated," Bacalbasa told radio RFI on Wednesday.