EU cites ‘indications' Israel is breaching human rights obligations over conduct in Gaza
'There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under article 2 of the EU-Israel association agreement,' states a leaked document from the EU's foreign policy service, seen by the Guardian.
Couched in the typically cautious language of Brussels, the document nevertheless represents a significant moment in Europe's relations towards a longstanding ally.
The closely guarded paper, which will be presented by the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, to European foreign ministers on Monday, cites assessments by the international court of justice, the office of the high commissioner for human rights, and numerous other UN bodies, while saying that it does not represent 'a value judgment' by any EU official.
The finding has been seen as a foregone conclusion since a review of the EU-Israel agreement was put on the agenda last month by 17 EU member states, led by the Netherlands, a traditional ally of Israel.
EU officials were tasked to see whether Israel's internal and international relations were based on 'respect for human rights and democratic principles' against the backdrop of near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinian civilians seeking food. The review was triggered by Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, amid widespread horror over the ongoing bombardment that has laid the territory waste and killed more than 55,600 people – mostly civilians – since 7 October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The EU discussion is complicated by Israel's airstrikes on Iran, which may restrain some governments from putting pressure on Israel. Soon after Israel began waging war against Iran, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, 'reiterated Israel's right to defend itself'. She has previously faced criticism for not speaking up over the humanitarian consequences for Palestinians of Israel's onslaught.
The EU-Israel association agreement, signed in 1995, underpins a trade relationship worth €68bn (£58bn) between 27 European countries and the Middle Eastern country. The EU is Israel's largest market and accounts for about one-third of its trade. Israel is also a member of the EU's Horizon research funding programme, and has secured grants worth €831m since the current programme began in 2021.
The document emerged after more than 100 campaign groups urged the commission this week to suspend the association agreement. 'A weak or inconclusive review of Israel's compliance with article 2, and/or failure by the commission and council to suspend at least part of the association agreement, would ultimately destroy what's left of the EU's credibility [and] further embolden Israel authorities to continue their atrocity crimes,' reads the statement, signed by 113 civil society groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty International's EU office, said the decision to launch a review had come 'tragically, devastatingly late' and that while it was important, as time passed Israeli forces had become 'more and more emboldened'.
Separately, eight EU member states have written to Kallas urging her to look into discontinuing trade of goods and services from the occupied Palestinian territory. The letter, organised by Belgium, states the EU is obliged to respond to an opinion from the international court of justice last July ordering Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories as soon as possible. In a landmark – albeit non-binding –ruling, the court said other states were under an obligation not to recognise the occupation as lawful.
'We have not seen a proposal on how to effectively discontinue trade of goods and services with the illegal settlements,' states the letter, calling for the EU to set out a timeline for reaching 'full compliance' with the advisory opinion around its first anniversary.
EU policy on Israel has been hobbled by difficulties finding unanimity among 27 member states with starkly different views, from countries that have recognised Palestine, including Spain and Ireland, to staunch allies of the Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The tide turned last month when the Netherlands, a strong ally of Israel, launched a call to review the EU-Israel association agreement, following the largest protests on Dutch streets over a foreign policy question in decades. The Dutch foreign minister, Casper Veldkamp, a former ambassador to Israel, argued that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip was a breach of international law and therefore the association agreement. An unexpectedly large number of countries agreed, although the question was not put to a vote.
The EU is far from united over what to do next. A full suspension of the agreement, which requires unanimity, is seen as impossible, given the certainty of a veto from Hungary, the Czech Republic or Germany. The EU only needs a weighted majority to suspend favourable trade terms or Israel's participation in Horizon, but even those outcomes are highly uncertain.
Hildegard Bentele, a German centre-right MEP who chairs the European parliament's Israel delegation, criticised moves to question the agreement. 'This will not have any influence on the Israeli government. I am very sure about it. This will put us in a less influential position,' she said in an interview earlier this month.
Kallas's predecessor Josep Borrell, however, has criticised Europe for shirking its moral responsibilities over Gaza. In a typically outspoken speech, he argued the EU should use the association agreement as a lever to demand that humanitarian law is respected.
In a further illustration of the EU's foreign policy knots, Hungary is blocking EU sanctions against Hamas and violent Israeli settlers.
Kallas earlier this week voiced frustration at critics that have accused the EU of silence and inaction, citing the need to find consensus. 'Sanctions need unanimity. And again I'm representing 27 [countries].' She argued that presenting sanctions that would inevitably fail was pointless: 'I feel better myself that I've done something, but actually I know that this will not go through … and then it will just show that we don't have a common position.'
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James Connolly is well-known for being a socialist and revolutionary leader in the fight for Irish independence, as well as a champion for the working class. "A revolution will only be achieved when the ordinary people of the world, us, the working class, get up off our knees and take back what is rightfully ours," is one of his famous quotes. Advertisement According to Dictionary of Irish Biography, Connolly arrived at a view that the future for socialism and the working class in Ireland lay in an independent republic rather than in continued union with Britain or in a federal arrangement involving home rule. This was quickly reflected in his and his colleagues' decision to disband the Dublin Socialist Club and to establish in its place the Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP). His manifesto for the new party was radical and ahead of its time, calling for free education and child health care, nationalisation of transport and banking, and a commitment to the further extension of public ownership. Connolly spent seven years (1903-1910) in the United States and, during that time, was instrumental in the development of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) militant labour organisation. Advertisement The group promoted the ideology of revolutionary syndicalism or industrial unionism, recruiting among the huge mass of unskilled and general labour in the USA. Connolly recruited Irish and Italian workers in New York for the IWW. Promoting socialism in Ireland The Dictionary of Irish Biography said Connolly's commitment to promoting socialism among the Irish was evident in his foundation of the Irish Socialist Federation in 1907. It was through its agency that he began to re-establish links with socialists in Ireland, notably with his former ISRP colleague, William O'Brien. By 1908, both he and O'Brien's Dublin socialists were considering the possibility of his coming back to be organiser for the newly emerging Socialist Party of Ireland (SPI). Advertisement The period after his return from the US saw much of the most significant theoretical and practical work of his life. In 1910, he published the important tract Labour, nationality and religion, written to rebut the attacks of the Jesuit Father Kane on socialism and to contest the notion that catholicism and socialism were irreconcilable. In the same year he also brought to publication his most famous work, Labour in Irish History. This was the first substantial exposition of a Marxist interpretation of Irish history. 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By late 1915, his increasing militancy at a time when the IRB had decided on insurrection caused them in turn to approach him; by late January they and he had agreed on a joint uprising. The Transport Union headquarters at Liberty Hall became the headquarters of the Irish Citizen Army as he prepared it for revolt. The Dictionary of Irish Biography pointed out that it was ironic that Connolly, who had always argued that political freedom without socialism was useless, now joined forces with militant nationalists in an insurrection that had nothing to do directly with socialism. It seems that Connolly believed national freedom for Ireland in the circumstances was a necessity before socialism could advance. In the event, he led his small band of about 200 Citizen Army comrades into the Easter Rising of 1916. His Citizen Army joined forces with the Volunteers, as the only army he acknowledged in 1916 was that of 'the Irish Republic'. As commandant general of the Republic's forces in Dublin, he fought side by side with Patrick Pearse in the General Post Office (GPO), until surrendering on April 29th. Connolly was badly injured in the foot, and was court-martialled along with 170 others. He was one of 90 to be sentenced to death, and was the last one of the 15 to be executed by firing squad. He was shot dead, seated on a wooden box, in Kilmainham Gaol on May 12th, 1916. Connolly was buried in the cemetery within Arbour Hill military barracks, and his wife and six of his children survived him. James Connolly's vision for Ireland would make the country a very different place to live in today. While all the participants in the Easter Rising shared the goal of Irish independence, each had their own ideas about what kind of Ireland should emerge afterward. If he had survived and lived beyond 1916, possibly becoming Taoiseach, it is fair to say Connolly's Ireland would be more socialist, secular, and worker-led in structure. He had envisioned a workers' republic where industry and land were publicly owned and democratically managed, and was not just simply fighting for Irish independence, but for the Irish working class.
