Latest news with #Kaja Kallas
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
EU seems to suddenly discover it has leverage on Israel
The European Union 's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has spent a lot of time on the phone to Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar over the last few weeks. For most of Israel's 22-month war in Gaza the EU has been seen as a bystander, paralysed by its inability to come to a joint position. Then word came through late last week that Israel had committed to letting a lot more humanitarian aid into the devastated Palestinian enclave, in a deal brokered by the EU. This would mean a 'substantial' increase in the number of trucks bringing food and other vital aid allowed into Gaza. Food supplies to kitchens and bakeries would resume, power lines to a plant supplying clean drinking water would be repaired, and closed border crossings would be opened, as part of the deal. The promise from Israel to stop choking off the flow of food, medicine and fuel into Gaza was unlikely to have been the result of a sudden change of heart by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu 's government. The concessions were more likely an attempt to head off what had been growing momentum inside the EU to – finally – sanction Israel, or threaten to do so, if the dire conditions in Gaza did not improve. It seems it took nearly two years of a war in which at least 58,000 Palestinians have been killed for the EU to discover it has some leverage over Israel. The 11-week total blockade stopping aid entering Gaza, which left a cohort of its civilian population at risk of starvation, pushed the EU to up the pressure on Israel. An effort started by Ireland and Spain, and more recently taken up by the Dutch, forced a review that found Israel had breached obligations to respect human rights made in an 'association agreement' with the EU. The EU's foreign ministers this week debated a set of options the union could take in response. They included suspending the agreement, which governs EU-Israel relations, or shelving a free trade deal. A paper put on the table by Kallas said the EU could ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, blacklist certain Israeli politicians or end visa-free travel for Israelis to the EU. There has been a huge amount of behind-the-scenes lobbying from Israel recently. That suggests a real concern about the reputational damage of being sanctioned by the EU. The deal on humanitarian aid was announced six days before EU foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels to debate options. The commitment to let more aid into Gaza has shifted the focus on to whether Israel follows through on that pledge, limiting the appetite to press ahead with any penalty for now. Most of the potential sanctions would require the unanimous support of all 27 capitals. That is a non-starter. Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria and Czech Republic have blocked efforts to have the EU hold Israel accountable for its military campaign in Gaza. Suspending the free trade deal only requires a sizeable majority of support. That would be a major blow to Netanyahu, as the EU is Israel's biggest trading partner. However, for that to happen either Germany or Italy would need to switch positions, given their size, to secure enough support to suspend the trade deal. Both governments opposed the EU pursuing any of the proposed sanctions against Israel at the meeting of foreign ministers this week. They pointed to the tentative aid commitments as a win, thanks to backchannel dialogue with Israel. 'If the threat of the stick is not plausible then you have no leverage,' says Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, a former EU ambassador to the Palestinian territories. The EU's response to Israel's war in Gaza had been defined by a 'complete absence of action', he says. There was a big question mark over whether Israel would stick to commitments it had made in its agreement with the EU, he says. One note of caution should be the fact Kallas has not said how many extra aid trucks Israel has agreed to let enter Gaza a day. Kühn von Burgsdorff served as head of the EU mission to the West Bank and Gaza from 2020 until mid-2023, where he says he 'saw the injustice before my eyes'. A German who spent 31 years as a diplomat for the EU, Kühn von Burgsdorff says the union's timid response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza is a 'disaster' for its standing in the world. It is a point the governments of Ireland and Spain have been making since the start of the conflict. 'It's about who we are, the Europeans, how we want our voice to be heard and influence the world,' Spain's foreign minister José Manuel Albares said this week. 'Europe is about human rights, about democracy, about international law and that's what we should uphold, whether it is in Ukraine or in Gaza,' he said.
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
EU funding ‘death' of Ukraine
The European Union is funding the 'death' of Ukraine by paying for weapons sent to Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. On Monday, US President Donald Trump unveiled a proposal to continue delivering American weapons to Ukraine at the expense of EU taxpayers. Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, said that the proposal was welcome, but that Trump should not take credit for aid unless the US is willing to 'share the burden.' 'Was Kaya starting to figure things out?' Zakharova wrote on social media on Wednesday. 'Let's help her: it's a bit like being told to foot the bill for a meal someone else enjoys, only for them to end up dead afterward. Am I correct?' Moscow has consistently argued that no amount of Western military aid will make it change its core goals in the conflict. The Kremlin has described the EU's approach as an attempt to prolong the war 'to the last Ukrainian' and harm Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy. Trump has emphasized that arms sales to Ukraine are a business opportunity for the US. His administration maintains the proposal is naturally shifting responsibility for Ukraine's future to the EU, which it says has the most to gain or lose. 'Europe wants to take the traditional defense of Europe. They should,' US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker told Fox News. 'The reality right now in Europe is they cannot manufacture the armaments required on the battlefield of Ukraine, or on the battlefield if there is a potential war in Europe.' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the EU was placing 'improper pressure' on Trump to adopt a more pro-Ukrainian stance. He warned that escalating sanctions on Moscow – something Trump also threatened – would ultimately harm EU member states more than Russia.
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
EU ministers request more detail and action from Israel on aid deal for Gaza
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is seeking updates — and more action — from Israel on implementing a new deal to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. Foreign ministers from the EU's 27 member nations were meeting in Brussels in the wake of the deal largely forged by Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. Saar met with EU leaders on Monday after agreeing last week to allow desperately needed food and fuel into the coastal enclave of 2.3 million people who have endured more than 21 months of war. 'The border crossings have been opened, we see more trucks going in, we see also operations of the electricity network, but it's clearly not enough because the situation is still untenable,' Kallas said. Details of the deal remain unclear, but EU officials have rejected any cooperation with the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund over ethical and safety concerns. Opening more border crossings and allowing more aid trucks into Gaza is the priority, but officials say eventually they'd like to set up a monitoring station at Kerem Shalom crossing. Calls to reassess ties with Israel European nations like Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have increasingly called for the EU's ties with Israel to be reassessed in the wake of the war. A report by the European Commission found 'indications' that Israel's actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU, but the bloc is divided over how to respond. Public pressure over Israel's conduct in Gaza made the new humanitarian deal possible, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, adding: 'That force of the 27 EU member states is what I want to maintain now." Kallas will update EU member nations every two weeks on how much aid is actually getting through to desperate Gazans, Irish Foreign Minister Thomas Byrne said. 'So far we haven't really seen the implementation of it, maybe some very small actions, but there's still slaughter going on, there's still a denial of access to food and water as well," he said. 'We need to see action.' Spanish Foreign Minister José Manual Albares Bueno said details of the deal were still being discussed and the EU would monitor results to see if Israel is complying. 'It's very clear that this agreement is not the end — we have to stop the war," he said. There have been regular protests across the continent, including a small one on Tuesday outside the European Council, where the ministers were discussing the aid plan. Dozens of protesters in Brussels called for more aggressive actions to stop Israel's military campaign in Gaza. 'It was able to do this for Russia," said Alexis Deswaef, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights. "It must now agree on a package of sanctions for Israel to end the genocide and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.' Human rights groups largely called the EU's actions insufficient. 'This is more than political cowardice," said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International. '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.' Risks to humanitarian groups The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, most of whom have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. The EU has observed some aid trucks entering Gaza, but 'not enough,' said Hajda Lahbib, an EU commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management. 'The situation is still so dangerous, so violent, with strikes still continuing on the ground, that our humanitarian partners cannot operate. So, this is the reality — we need to have a ceasefire," she said.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Israeli pledge to let more aid into Gaza will be kept under ‘close watch', EU says
A commitment by Israel to allow substantially more humanitarian aid into Gaza will be kept under 'close watch' by the European Union , its foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has said. In a likely bid to head off growing momentum for EU sanctions, Israel promised it would let more aid into the Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated by 22 months of war. The deal between Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar and Ms Kallas came days before EU foreign ministers were to discuss the possibility of putting sanctions on Israel, after the union concluded Israel's military campaign in Gaza had breached human rights obligations. Options on the table during the meeting in Brussels on Tuesday included suspending an EU-Israel 'association agreement' that includes a free trade deal. READ MORE Ministers were told the EU could also put economic sanctions on Israeli politicians, an embargo on weapons sales to Israel and cut off Israel's access to research funding schemes. EU ministers did not agree to press forward with any of the options. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said the situation in Gaza remains 'catastrophic'. Photograph: EPA Germany and other states traditionally supportive of Israel opposed moving ahead with any sanctions, particularly in light of the tentative agreement to allow more aid into Gaza. Many of the options to penalise Israel would require unanimous agreement from all 27 capitals, or in some cases a large majority in support of action, which has been lacking to date. Spain's foreign minister José Manuel Albares said he welcomed the aid deal but more information was needed about how it would work on the ground. [ Irish physiotherapist in Gaza: 'Nobody is safe, there's no end in sight' ] 'I think it's good, anything that will allow food stuffs, medicines, fuel to enter Gaza will be welcome from us, but I want to know more details about the agreement and the mechanism of follow-up that the European Union will have to be able to check the implementation,' he said. The Swedish government said the continued deterioration in the conditions in Gaza was 'indefensible'. The Nordic state said it was not ruling out support for 'additional measures to pressure the Israeli government'. Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European Affairs: 'We need to use leverage in our dialogue to get results.' Photograph: Seb Daly/Sportsfile Minister of State for European affairs Thomas Byrne said Israel's promise to allow more vital aid into Gaza was a result of pressure from the EU. 'We need to understand that we have that leverage. Dialogue is very important, but it's not enough, we need to use leverage in our dialogue to get results,' he said. Mr Byrne, who was representing the Irish Government, said the situation in Gaza had not changed. 'There's still slaughter going on, there's still denial of access to food and water,' he said. Speaking after the meeting, Ms Kallas said the EU would 'keep a close watch' on the level of aid flowing into Gaza. Foreign ministers could return to possible sanctions if the Israeli government 'does not live up to its pledges', she said. The EU's top diplomat said the aim was not to 'punish' Israel but improve the situation in Gaza, which remained 'catastrophic'. The EU wanted to see evidence more aid was reaching people, she said. 'It is clear that we are in the situation where we don't have a ceasefire and that's why it is so much harder to provide aid,' the former Estonian prime minister said. [ 'Famine is spreading and people are dying': UN urges Israel to allow fuel into Gaza Opens in new window ] The EU's failure to suspend its free trade agreement with Israel was a 'cruel and unlawful betrayal', which would be remembered as a 'disgraceful' moment in the union's history, said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of human rights organisation Amnesty International. At least 58,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's invasion and bombardment of Gaza, in response to the October 7th, 2023 attacks by Hamas militants. Aid agencies have warned a blockade of food, medicine and fuel in recent months left many civilians in Gaza at risk of starving to death.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
EU ministers discuss deal with Israel to increase Gaza aid
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) BRUSSELS — The European Union is seeking updates from Israel on implementation of a new deal to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to Kaja Kallas, the bloc's foreign policy chief. Foreign ministers from the EU's 27-member nations are meeting Tuesday in Brussels in the wake of a new aid deal for Gaza largely forged by Kallas and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar. Saar met with EU leaders on Monday after agreeing last week allow desperately needed food and fuel into the coastal enclave of 2.3 million people who have endured more than 21 months of war. 'We have reached a common understanding with Israel to really improve the situation on the ground, but it's not about the paper, but actually implementation of the paper,' Kallas said before the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. 'As long as it hasn't really improved, then we haven't all done enough,' she said, before calling for a ceasefire. Kallas said the ministers will also discuss Iran's nuclear program, concerns over developments in Georgia and Moldova, and new sanctions on Russia. The EU is readying its 18th package of sanctions on Russia, with holdouts within the bloc arguing over the keystone policy of capping oil prices to cut into Moscow's energy revenues. European nations like Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have increasingly called for the EU's ties with Israel to be reassessed in the wake of the war in Gaza. A report by the European Commission found ' indications ' that Israel's actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU — but the block is divided over what to do in response. That public pressure over Israel's conduct in Gaza made the new humanitarian deal possible even before a ceasefire, said Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch foreign minister. 'That force of the 27 EU member states is what I want to maintain now,' he said. 'The humanitarian deal announced last week shows that the Association Agreement review and use of EU leverage has worked,' said one European diplomat. Spain's Foreign Minister José Manual Albares Bueno said details of the deal were still being discussed and that the EU would monitor results to see if Israel is complying with those. 'We don't know whether it we will know how it works,' he said. 'It's very clear that this agreement is not the end — we have to stop the war." The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, most of whom have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. The EU has observed some aid trucks entering Gaza, but 'not enough,' said Hajda Lahbib, the EU Commissioner for humanitarian air and crisis management. 'The situation is still so dangerous, so violent, with strikes still continuing on the ground, that our humanitarian partners cannot operate. So, this is the reality we need to have a ceasefire,' she said. Sam Mcneil, The Associated Press
