Eurasia Press & News
Seventeen of the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers last week backed a review of trade ties with Israel over its egregious actions in the Gaza Strip and the failure to fully lift its over 11-week blockade of aid as Palestinians starve to death.
The bloc decided to launch a long overdue review to establish whether Israel has violated its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
A clear majority of EU member states on 20 May supported a Dutch proposal to reassess the accord that defines trading and diplomatic relations.
Calls to revisit the bilateral agreement have intensified in recent weeks, especially after Israel resumed its assault on Gaza following the end of a two-month ceasefire. The push gained traction when the Netherlands deemed the humanitarian blockade of Gaza a violation of international humanitarian law and therefore of Article 2.
The Dutch initiative came more than a year after Ireland and Spain failed to rally support for the same move. In February 2024, the duo formally requested that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen review the trade accord in light of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, but didn’t succeed in securing backing from other EU states.
Claudio Francavilla, associate EU advocacy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), pointed out that there was no need for a vote for the EU Commission to initiate a review of Article 2 of the EU-Israel deal, or even propose suspending it to the EU Council.
“The Commission could have acted without a request from member states, but it didn’t,” he told The New Arab, adding that the European Commission failed to officially respond to the letter from Ireland and Spain last year.
The senior HRW official welcomed the EU’s decision to open a compliance review, saying it sends a “politically strong” message that puts Israel on notice that the EU is watching closely, with added scrutiny potentially leading to real repercussions.
“At last, the EU is taking a concrete step to pressure the Israeli government. The moment you make a credible threat of consequences, they respond,” Francavilla said, alluding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent announcement that humanitarian aid would restart.
Since 2 March, the Israeli government has blocked food, fuel, medicine, and other supplies from entering the war-devastated strip. Only small deliveries of lifesaving aid were permitted for the first time in nearly three months last Monday, which EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said was a “drop in the ocean”.
The prolonged, cruel halt on the entry of aid appears to have triggered a rethink among the bloc’s member states, even those most aligned with Israel.
“It’s a good sign but not good enough as people in Gaza expected action, not a review,” Ramy Abdu, head of the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights in Gaza, told TNA.
He believes the EU’s move may also signal to the Israelis that this is the “maximum” Europeans can do, effectively giving Tel Aviv more time to continue committing war crimes with impunity during the review process.
The director of the observatory highlighted that there is widespread criticism of the EU among Palestinians who perceive European countries as complicit, with many having continued to supply weapons to Israel from the outset of the war, despite it being condemned as a genocide by rights groups and legal scholars.
“Palestinians on the ground know they were failed by the international community, especially Europe, which claims to uphold human rights,” Abdu said.
Last week, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated in an interview that “half of the bombs that fall on Gaza are made in Europe”.
The European Union stands as Israel’s biggest trading partner, with trade exceeding €45 billion a year. Just the fact of conducting a review of the pact governing their reciprocal political and economic ties damages Israel’s standing in the West.
If Tel Aviv is found to have breached its human rights obligations, the European Commission will be required to propose measures, which could include the suspension of the pact.
Discussing the EU’s re-evaluation of the treaty with The New Arab, Conor O’Neill, head of advocacy and policy at Christian Aid, called it a “shift in the right direction” but emphasised firmly it was merely a review, which he deemed wholly inadequate given the endless scale of war crimes and violations of international law perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.
“It’s like standing in front of a burning building and asking for a review of whether there’s a fire,” said O’Neill, who is also a spokesperson for the Campaign to Pass the Occupied Territories Bill, which aims to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.
The campaigner also clarified that suspending the EU-Israel deal would simply remove a trade benefit, and not stop trade from continuing with Israel. Besides an immediate suspension of the pact, he advocated for targeted sanctions and a ban on all trade, investment, and economic relations with the settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“If the EU was willing to flex its economic muscles, trade restrictions and sanctions are the measures that can truly shift the calculus,” Christian Aid’s advocacy head argued, noting the bloc’s largely ineffective stand toward Israel characterised by statements of condemnation without any meaningful consequences for its actions in the Palestinian territories.
Citing the ICJ’s 2024 advisory opinion, he said that at a national level, states have an international obligation to take measures to prevent trade and cooperation that contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful occupation and allowing war crimes to be committed.
While fully suspending the deal with Israel would require unanimous approval from EU member states, a partial suspension, such as halting the free trade component, could be decided by a qualified majority.
Francavilla is more hopeful about the review itself than about any follow-up action by the EU Council, as he sees a full or partial suspension as unlikely.
“The stronger the outcome of the review is, the harder it will be for the Council to justify complete inaction,” HRW’s associate director said. He stressed that it must be thorough and reflect the situation in Gaza, pointing to an overwhelming body of evidence of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
The EU-Israel trade review marks a major shift from what has been a cautious and divided European stance on Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza amid reluctance to take any retaliatory actions.
Long-standing divisions within the European Union between countries that back Israel and those considered more pro-Palestinian have plagued the bloc’s ability to act decisively since Tel Aviv began its incessant, brutal war on Gaza in October 2023. Until a few months ago, there was no consensus within the EU on pressuring Israel or considering sanctions.
If the EU concludes that Israel is weaponising aid and persists with its carnage in Gaza, it could reconvene to consider sanctions. While key players like Germany remain opposed, there’s a growing sense within the bloc that stronger action is needed, or the EU risks being viewed as enabling the ongoing man-made crisis in Gaza.
“Over the past year and a half, not only have European leaders been unwilling to act, but various member states have provided political support, trade, and even weapons to Israel,” O’Neill said. He was adamant that if the EU is paralysed or refuses to act, member states must take the lead.
“This is Europe’s last chance to uphold its values. If it wants to retain any respectability, it must act now to stop the genocide without delay,” Euro-Med’s Abdu told TNA.
International pressure is growing on Netanyahu to stop the widened offensive or face a diplomatic and economic fallout.
The UK last week announced the suspension of free trade negotiations with Israel, the summoning of the country’s ambassador, and new sanctions on West Bank settlers linked to violence against Palestinians.
A day earlier, France, the UK and Canada issued a joint warning to Israel threatening “concrete actions” if it did not stop its escalation and lift relief restrictions.
Though leaders of the three countries called for a halt to Israel’s latest military campaign, they fell short of demanding an immediate end to the war.
Over the weekend, Ireland announced that it will move forward with legislation suspending trade with Israeli companies based in the occupied Palestinian territories, with Simon Harris, Ireland’s Tanaiste (deputy prime minister), calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, saying a review alone was insufficient.
