Over Almost two years into Israel’s genocide in Gaza and amidst the ethnic cleansing of Gaza City, the European Commission has finally decided to submit proposals to the Council on sanctions against Israel. These include the suspension of trade-related provisions, bilateral support to Israel on hold and sanctions against Hamas, extremist and violent settlers.
One cannot help but ask: How much longer can the European Union delay concrete action, avoid responsibility while funding and facilitating repeated Israeli atrocities in Palestine, including the world’s televised genocide?
What prevents the EU from acting?
European foreign decision-making is infamously slow, bureaucratic and, as seen with Trump’s tariffs and defence spending, too reactive. While the roots of Europe’s inaction regarding Israel started a century ago, current structures and foreign pressure continue to play a role.
Multiple European nations were involved in shaping the Israeli state that exists today. The United Kingdom, most notably through the 1917 Balfour Declaration, supported Jewish immigration to Palestine and endorsed the Zionist vision of “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Following World War II and the Holocaust—crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany—Germany has since committed itself to a unique relationship with Israel, strengthening bonds across various spheres and catalysing broader international support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
These different historical experiences—such as the collective European guilt from the Holocaust and the geopolitical shifts following the end of communism— varying national interests and political priorities, have created internal divisions amongst EU member states regarding the Palestinian cause.
Especially following the start of the genocide, it has become clear that there are at two main camps: states advocating for international law and human rights, which tend to be more in solidarity with Palestine (e.g., Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia), and another group (which includes countries like Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, leans towards Israel due to ideological, security, or political reasons.
Meanwhile, states that claim to take a “balanced approach” are, in practice, actively enabling Israel’s crimes.
These different positions have made it difficult to reach consensus, complicating any unified EU action to hold Israel accountable for its well-documented atrocities in Palestine—especially since EU foreign and security policy decisions require unanimity in the Council.
In the absence of a consensus at the European level, countries are taking independent initiatives. For example, Slovenia, which has called for EU action against Israel’s atrocities, has become the first country to ban all arms trade with Israel, including transit and import.
Some other member states, such as France, are leading a movement for the conditional recognition of the state of Palestine that ultimately maintains Israel’s hegemony and strips Palestinians of their unalienable rights, including the right to self-determination and the right to return. This wave of recognition is an attempt to distract the public from the EU’s failure to hold Israel accountable and whitewash its complicity.
Lastly, the EU’s dependence on the US paralyses it from having an independent foreign policy. As Israel’s strongest ally, the US serves as the leading power within NATO – which most EU states are also members of – and it’s therefore driven by the desire to protect its imperialist and colonial interests in the Middle East.
In fact, the EU’s Defence Desk—a forum where EU defence ministers meet before NATO sessions—exists to coordinate European positions and priorities, aiming to achieve greater strategic autonomy in the face of the EU’s ongoing dependence on the US and NATO.
Consequently, the EU is cautious about pressuring Israel, concerned that doing so could damage transatlantic relations and NATO cooperation.
Preventing justice
The EU’s long-standing approach to Palestine exposes its true intentions: it lacks a genuine political will to end the illegal occupation, contrary to the demands made in the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN General Assembly’s September resolution.
Instead, the EU aims to manage the status quo, maintaining a fragile facade of dialogue with Israel that protects the settler-colonial project and keeps EU dependence on the US—while neglecting its moral, legal, and citizen-driven obligations. Moreover, these actions go against the EU’s own provisions, notably Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The EU continues to repeat past colonial savagery, wrongly believing Palestine’s geographic distance shields it from consequences. The EU must understand that failing to take meaningful political action that is grounded in justice, international law and human rights—beyond individual or temporary sanctions, performative humanitarianism and conditional recognition—will ultimately backfire.
The EU has the power, if it wishes, to choose a different path: one that embraces a sustainable, just and human rights-based solution for Palestine—or to perpetuate this vicious cycle of violence, at the cost of Palestinian rights and lives and its shaky image, in support of settler-colonialism, collapsing international order and law violations.
Tamam Abusalama is a Palestinian-Belgian communications professional, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp. Her work includes campaigning for refugee rights.
Follow her on Twitter/X: @TamamBeitJirja
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