Israel has been on the receiving end of scathing criticism from European leaders who are trying to restrain the Jewish state from pressing on with its wars in Gaza and southern Lebanon. <\/p>\n
From calls for a complete halt of weapons sales to Israel and considering sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers, to talks among EU members on reviewing Israel\u2019s Association Agreement with the bloc, European leaders are trying to use their leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into negotiating ceasefires. <\/p>\n
Adding impetus to their effort is the fact Israeli military strikes are now hitting UN peacekeeping bases in southern Lebanon, which house European troops. <\/p>\n
The bloc\u2019s position is starkly different to what experts described as unwavering support for Israel from European states on October 7 last year, when Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 others hostage. <\/p>\n
But as Israel\u2019s retaliation against Hamas morphed into what critics call a \u201cforever war,\u201d killing more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry, European countries have sought to distance themselves from the Jewish state. <\/p>\n
The rising European criticism comes as the United States appears either unable or unwilling to put significant pressure on Israel just weeks ahead of the presidential election in November, experts said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of frustration, in western European capitals at least, with how the US has managed diplomacy over the last year,\u201d Lovatt said, adding that some EU states felt the US should have done more to \u201cmoderate and constrain Israeli actions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Last weekend, the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding it act to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days or risk violating US laws governing foreign military assistance. <\/p>\n
In veiled criticism on Thursday, the European Union\u2019s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said that too many people could die in that time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe US has been saying to Israel that they have to improve humanitarian support to Gaza, but they gave one month delay,\u201d the EU foreign policy chief told reporters ahead of a leaders\u2019 summit, according to Reuters. \u201cOne month delay at the current pace of people being killed. It\u2019s too many people,\u201d Borrell said. <\/p>\n
Relations were initially strained because of Israel\u2019s assault in Gaza, Lovatt said, \u201cwhich is seen by many European governments, including those who are still supportive of Israel, as having been disproportionate and in contradiction to international law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s ground operation against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon may have \u201ctipped things over the edge\u201d for many European states, Lovatt said. European reproach of Israel reached new levels when Israeli military strikes began hitting posts of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. The mission, UNIFIL, has been stationed there since 1978 and is made up of 50 nationalities, including troops from Spain, Ireland, Italy and France. <\/p>\n
Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, director of the Israel-Europe Relations Program at the Mitvim think tank in Jerusalem, said that \u201cwhen it comes to defending their own soldiers,\u201d European states tend to be more vocal. <\/p>\n
The UN has said Israel\u2019s military has fired on its peacekeepers multiple times in recent weeks, injuring more than a dozen. Israeli forces also forcibly entered a base, and stopped a critical logistical movement, the UN said. <\/p>\n
Israel has said it has no intention of harming the UN\u2019s peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon but accused Hezbollah of using UNIFIL personnel as human shields. Netanyahu has warned that UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon are in \u201charm\u2019s way,\u201d and called on UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres to get them out \u201cimmediately.\u201d <\/p>\n
The diplomatic spat between Israel and some European leaders burst into the open this week. <\/p>\n
In remarks that drew a sharp response from Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying in a cabinet meeting Tuesday that \u201cNetanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,\u201d according to the Paris-based Agence France-Presse (AFP). Macron was referring to UN Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which paved the way for Israel\u2019s creation in 1948. <\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN,\u201d Macron added, according to AFP. The French president had earlier called for the complete suspension of the sale to Israel of arms used in the war in Gaza, while stressing France has not been involved in their supply. <\/p>\n
In a statement Tuesday, Netanyahu said that \u201cit was not a UN decision\u2026 but the victory that was achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters\u201d that created the State of Israel, adding that many of those fighters \u201cwere Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in France.\u201d <\/p>\n
Netanyahu added that the UN has \u201cin recent decades\u2026 approved hundreds of antisemitic decisions\u201d against Israel, with the purpose of denying the Jewish state the \u201cright to exist and its ability to defend itself.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel has repeatedly accused the UN, and Guterres, of antisemitism and this week designated the UN chief as persona non grata and banned him from entering Israel. The EU\u2019s Borrell condemned the decision, calling the accusations of antisemitism against Guterres \u201cslanderous.\u201d <\/p>\n
The EU and UK consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have repeatedly condemned its actions since October 7. The EU has also sanctioned the military wing of Hezbollah. <\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also condemned Israel\u2019s actions in Lebanon, including an Israeli military strike that hit a UN peacekeeping base where around 1,100 Italian troops are stationed. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe defend Israel\u2019s right to live in peace and security, but we reiterate the need for this to happen in compliance with international humanitarian law,\u201d Meloni said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Italy is the third largest supplier of arms to Israel, providing the Jewish state with helicopters and guns, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). However, following the start of the war in Gaza, Italy suspended all new export licenses and canceled any agreements signed after October 7, Meloni was quoted as saying Tuesday by Italian state news agency ANSA. <\/p>\n
This policy is \u201cmuch more restrictive than that applied by our partners – France, Germany and United Kingdom,\u201d Meloni said, according to ANSA. \u201cWe have blocked everything.\u201d <\/p>\n
Among the harshest critics of Israel have been the Irish and Spanish leaders, who have called on the EU to review its Association Agreement with Israel, saying the Jewish state is breaching the trade deal\u2019s human rights clause in its Gaza war. Last week, Borrell said the issue would be discussed in the Foreign Affairs Council, as there is \u201cenough evidence\u201d to merit the discussion. <\/p>\n
Changing the agreement would hurt Israel, Sion-Tzidkiyahu said, especially if trade is affected. The EU is Israel\u2019s biggest trade partner, with trade between Israel and the bloc totaling $50.7 billion (\u20ac46.8 billion) in 2022, according to EU data. <\/p>\n
In an earlier move that protested Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized Palestinian statehood in May. While no longer a member of the EU, Britain has also sought to restrain Israel\u2019s behavior, most recently by considering sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers. <\/p>\n
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that his government was \u201clooking at\u201d sanctions against Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, David Cameron, who served as British foreign secretary under the previous government until July, told Sky News on Wednesday that he had planned to sanction the two ministers during his time in office, with the intention that it would show Israel that, while the UK supported the right to self-defense, \u201cwe do want you to try and obey humanitarian law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich rejected Starmer\u2019s comments. Ben Gvir accused the UK of working to \u201cprevent\u201d the establishment of the Jewish state. \u201cThe British must realize that the days of the mandate are over,\u201d Ben Gvir\u2019s spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the British administration of Palestine between 1917 and 1947. <\/p>\n
Last month, the UK suspended 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel over risks of such weapons being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. The decision was rebuked by Israeli officials. <\/p>\n
Experts said the EU is not a homogenous bloc, however, and its members have voiced varying degrees of criticism of Israel. <\/p>\n
When it comes to Israel, Germany is often the exception to European policy. Berlin is the second-largest supplier of weapons to Israel after the US, contributing some 30% of Israel\u2019s arms as of 2023. On Wednesday, the news agency DPA reported that, in the past eight weeks, the German government had approved military equipment and munitions exports to Israel worth \u20ac31 million ($33.7 million). That is more than twice as much as during the rest of the year, DPA said. <\/p>\n
On Thursday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country would continue supplying weapons to Israel. <\/p>\n
German politicians have repeatedly stated that Israel\u2019s security is Germany\u2019s \u201creason of state.\u201d This term is a reference to Germany\u2019s special relationship with Israel due to its Nazi past, which saw the German state systematically murder 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. This genocide profoundly shaped the country\u2019s policymaking. <\/p>\n
Despite the recent tensions with the wider bloc, Sion-Tzidkiyahu said the EU\u2019s relations with Israel \u201care still very strong\u201d and remain \u201cimportant to Israel.\u201d They have not caused material harm yet, she said, but risk \u201ctaking away the legitimacy under Israel\u2019s seat.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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