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Human rights

EU's Empty Rhetoric on Israel's Human Rights Breaches Exposed

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The European Union's toothless words on Israel's breaches of human rights and international law are laid bare in the face of its inaction over the devastating war in Gaza. Despite the bloc's Foreign Affairs Council's vote to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the outcome is far from conclusive, with the EU's support for Israel making a unanimous vote to suspend the agreement impossible. European governments' hollow statements invoking Article 2 of the agreement, which emphasizes human rights, only serve to mask their failure to take meaningful action.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EU's review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement is a sham, with the bloc's unwavering support for Israel making a unanimous vote to suspend the agreement unlikely.
  • The EU has failed to specify criteria for assessing human rights in its agreements, leaving it ample space to claim it values human rights while avoiding significant action.
  • European governments have made empty statements invoking Article 2 of the agreement, which emphasizes human rights, without taking concrete steps to address Israel's crimes.
  • Individual European states, such as the UK, France, and Spain, have taken nominal actions, but their statements and actions have been largely ineffective in holding Israel accountable.
  • These states could take concrete action by halting arms contracts, suspending intelligence cooperation, and cutting commercial exchanges with Israeli institutions on occupied Palestinian land.
  • The EU's inaction is a direct consequence of its decades-long neglect of gross abuses by Israel and other associated states.
  • The bloc's failure to uphold its legal duties and its own rules undermines its claims to value human rights and fundamental values.

Statistics:

  • More than 90% of Gaza's population, or 1.9 million people, have been displaced.
  • Over 600,000 people have been displaced in the past three months alone.
  • Famine is widespread in Gaza, with:

+ 66 children dying of starvation.

+ 5,000 children hospitalized with acute malnutrition in May alone.

  • The EU's review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement has been ongoing since May, with no concrete action taken.
  • The bloc's association agreements with other countries, such as Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, have also been criticized for their failure to uphold human rights.

Sources:

  • Andrea Teti, "Democratisation Against Democracy: How EU Policy Fails the Middle East", 2020.
  • Andrea Teti, "The Arab Uprisings in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia", 2018.
  • International Court of Justice (ICJ), "Application by the Palestinian Arabs" (https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/171).

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