EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Monday that he wants EU foreign ministers to discuss possible violations of international humanitarian law by Israel at their next meeting, warning that trade ties could be at risk come.
Borrell said the discussion was necessary because the status of international humanitarian law in Lebanon and Gaza was “very concerning.”
The outgoing top EU diplomat, who was vocal in his criticism of Israel, made a final attempt to call the European Union to account for Israel’s behavior in its response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.
Spain and Ireland had already proposed a few months ago to examine a partnership agreement between the EU and Israel in the fields of industry, energy, transport and tourism.
According to Borrell’s previous statements, the European Commission could propose suspending the agreement if Israel no longer adheres to its basic principles.
Critics of Israel point out that the agreement stipulates that relations between the parties are based not only on the principles of democracy, but also on respect for human rights.
The EU actually hoped to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip and the accusations against Israel within the framework of the agreement’s Association Council.
However, no agreement has been reached with the Israeli government on holding such a meeting for several months.
Borrell also said that humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza was at its lowest level since the start of the war.
At their meeting on Monday, EU foreign ministers struggled to agree on a response that could help prevent the fighting from escalating into a full-scale regional war in the Middle East between Israel, Iran and Iranian allies Hezbollah and Hamas .
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel was blunt in his assessment that “almost no one” listens to the EU anymore. The EU is a ‘confetti’ of positions on the international stage, he said.
The talks took place in Luxembourg a week after the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel, in which Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others to Gaza.
However, international criticism of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in the coastal strip is immense, after a year of war left an estimated 42,000 dead in Gaza – and fighting in Lebanon is now worsening.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg stressed that Israel has been in an “incredibly difficult situation” since October 7 and that Hezbollah has continuously attacked the country from Lebanon since then.
Borrell expressed frustration at the opposing positions of the bloc’s member states on an increasingly tense conflict in the Middle East.
“It takes too long to say some things that are very clear,” he said. “It is quite clear that we must oppose Israeli attacks on UNIFIL, especially because our soldiers are there,” he said.
Borrell referred to a joint EU statement on recent attacks on the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, issued on the eve of the meeting.
The EU statement on the incidents involving several injured peacekeepers should have been published at the end of last week.
However, the process dragged on due to a blockade by the Czech Republic, an EU member state with particularly close ties to Israel.
EU diplomats suspected on Monday that the government in Prague had even coordinated its actions with the Israeli government.
With Israel shelling the positions of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, more EU countries must stand “on the side of what is right, decent and moral,” Irish Foreign Minister Michel Martin said.
Martin said he was surprised that some EU countries “have not been as strong or strong in supporting UN peacekeepers as they could be.”
Of the ten largest countries contributing soldiers to the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission, four are EU members, namely Italy, Spain, France and Ireland.
EU countries are also “strongly divided” over arms supplies to Israel, Borrell said, after Spain and France called for an embargo, while other EU countries want to supply more weapons.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said there is no point in supplying weapons to Israel as he called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. “It’s a matter of consistency,” he said.
