Amnesty International has slammed a decision by the European Union to keep its association agreement with Israel operational amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss possible measures against Israel after it was found to have breached the association agreement on human rights grounds.
They were presented with a range of options, including suspending the entire accord, sanctioning Israeli ministers, curtailing trade ties, and imposing an arms embargo.
However, they failed to approve any measure, despite growing outrage over Israel’s daily crimes in Gaza, which has seen its forces bomb civilian areas and kill desperate Palestinians queuing for aid on a near-daily basis.
Reacting to the EU’s failure to act, Amnesty International Secretary General Anges Callamard said, “This vote will be remembered as one of the most disgraceful moments in the EU’s history. European leaders had the opportunity to take a principled stand against Israel’s crimes, but instead gave it a greenlight to continue its genocide in Gaza, its unlawful occupation of the whole Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and its system of apartheid against Palestinians.”
She pointed out that the EU’s own review had found that Israel was violating the human rights obligations it had committed to under the terms of the association agreement.
“Yet, instead of taking measures to stop it and prevent their own complicity, member states chose to maintain a preferential trade deal over respecting their international obligations and saving Palestinian lives,” she said.
Callamard described the EU’s continued tolerance of Israel’s crimes against Palestinians as “more than political cowardice”.
“Every time the EU fails to act, the risk of complicity in Israel’s actions grows. This sends an extremely dangerous message to perpetrators of atrocity crimes that they will not only go unpunished but be rewarded.”
She called on individual EU member states to “take matters into their own hands and unilaterally suspend all forms of cooperation with Israel that may contribute to its grave violations of international law”.
She said this should include an embargo on the export of arms or surveillance technology and a total ban on trade with and investment in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 58,000 Palestinians according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry, with some estimates suggesting much higher death tolls.
Thousands of uncounted victims of Israel’s horrific war on the territory are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The EU’s association agreement with Israel gives it preferential trade access, and 28.8% of all Israeli exports go to the EU.
EU states Ireland and Spain have been calling for a review of the agreement since last year but there was no progress on the issue.