Now entering its third year, Israel’s genocidal devastation of Gaza, following the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, has exposed and deepened multiple dangerous divides across Europe. Three of these require immediate EU action.
First on the list: adoption of European Commission proposals for the partial suspension of the trade provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Securing a qualified majority to adopt the proposal, which requires getting Germany and Italy on board, was already proving difficult.
Predictably now, US president Donald Trump’s “peace plan” and ongoing ceasefire talks have become a convenient excuse for Berlin and Rome, and other hesitant EU capitals, to try and delay EU action.
Trump’s plan, backed by most EU leaders and several Arab and Muslim states, may or may not lead to a durable ceasefire and an end to starvation in Gaza. Negotiations will probably take a while.
The EU, on the other hand, cannot afford to waste more time.
Coming on top of two years of inaction and half-hearted initiatives, any further EU hesitation on (limited) sanctions on Israel will add to the serious reputational damage that the bloc has already suffered.
Further delays and endless arguments will also reinforce perceptions, both in Europe and outside, that the EU’s commitment to human rights depends on the colour, faith, and geography of the victims.
Complacent EU officials in Brussels may shrug off accusations of double standards as part of a new geopolitical reality. But others know that no amount of clever spin or PR can hide the difference in the EU’s treatment of Ukrainian and Palestinian lives.
“In the past, it was the bad guys who accused us of hypocrisy when we lectured them on human rights,” one EU diplomat tells me. “Now it’s the people who once believed in us who feel betrayed.”
In any case, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have continued as the talks begin, adding more people to the list of 67,000 Palestinians who have been killed so far.
Thousands are still under the rubble and more than 169,000 people have been injured, many with life-altering wounds.
At least 20,000 children are among the dead, with one child killed every hour for the past 24 months. According to UNICEF estimates, 3,000 to 4,000 children in Gaza have lost one or more limbs and 154 children have died due to starvation.
'In the past, it was the bad guys who accused us of hypocrisy when we lectured them on human rights,' one EU diplomat tells me. 'Now it’s the people who once believed in us who feel betrayed'
EU leaders should let those figures sink in.
And whatever the prospects of a ceasefire, when they meet later this month, they must focus on enforcing their commitment under the EU-Israel agreement to protecting human rights.
They must also remember their international obligation to ensure accountability for war crimes.
Secondly, EU governments must immediately stop the steady, dangerous slide in democratic standards when interacting with their citizens who work for justice in Gaza.
Most EU governments and institutions have been shockingly silent as European citizens, trying to deliver food to famine-struck Gaza on humanitarian flotillas, were illegally intercepted, arrested and mistreated.
As peaceful demonstrations calling for justice for Palestinians grow in number and frequency, the state response has been getting more and more violent.
A recent Amnesty International demand for an investigation into protest bans and police brutality in Brussels highlights how European authorities are seeking to crush peaceful dissent.
There is also dissent within European governments and EU institutions but calls for stronger action to end the genocide and starvation in Gaza by EU staff for peace and justice and former senior officials have gone unheeded.
Human rights experts tell me that when they hear EU bureaucrats call for “impartiality” when war crimes are being committed or their attempts to sanitise internal reports to protect Israel, they are reminded of what Hannah Arendt called the “banality of evil.”
Third, European politicians — and those working in EU institutions — must stop stoking division between Europe’s Jewish and Muslim communities.
As illustrated by attacks on synagogues and mosques and repeatedly highlighted by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, both antisemitism and Islamophobia are rising across Europe.
Yet instead of uniting communities, European leaders too often inflame tensions.
Solidarity with Palestinians is demonised as support for Hamas, while Jewish identity is carelessly and dangerously equated with Israel itself — erasing Jewish voices who oppose the war.
Contrary to what many politicians try and make us believe, the vast majority of those protesting Israel’s collective genocidal punishment of Palestinians also condemn attacks on Jewish people and seek the release of Hamas-held Israeli hostages.
Creating simplistic and competitive false binaries between European minorities is dangerous and irresponsible.
A ceasefire in Gaza, if it comes, will not erase these fractures. Asking for a seat on Trump’s plans for transitional authority or “Board of Peace” for Gaza will not elevate the EU’s global credibility.
As we commemorate Palestinians and Israelis killed over the last two years and hope for the release of those held hostage and imprisoned, we face a defining choice.
Do we accept a world where “might is right”, the innocent are killed, and war criminals enjoy impunity? Or can we recommit to universal and inclusive human rights, equality for all, and agree that the promise of “never again” is meant for everyone, everywhere?
The answers will define the future of humanity but also of European democracy and Europe’s place in history.
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Shada Islam is an EUobserver columnist, and independent EU analyst and commentator who runs her own strategy and advisory company New Horizons Project. She has recently won the European Woman in Media award and the Media Career Award 2023 for her outstanding work and powerful voice on EU affairs and focus on building an inclusive Union of Equality. She now writes a substack, Simply Shada.
Shada Islam is an EUobserver columnist, and independent EU analyst and commentator who runs her own strategy and advisory company New Horizons Project. She has recently won the European Woman in Media award and the Media Career Award 2023 for her outstanding work and powerful voice on EU affairs and focus on building an inclusive Union of Equality. She now writes a substack, Simply Shada.