Josep Borrell: European Union leaders are complicit with Israel policy

Former European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, wrote that the silence of Europe allowed the constant extermination of the Palestinians without deterrence, thus taking all that the old continent represents, and called its leaders to move now because their refusal to punish Israel makes them complicit in its crimes.

In an article in the Guardian newspaper – Borrell said that if international courts survive the attacks of US President Donald Trump, it will not issue its final ruling until after years, although there is no doubt that the Israeli government is committing a genocide in Gaza, where civilians are slaughtered and hungry after its systematic destruction of all infrastructure in the sector.

He stated that the Israeli settlers and army continue their daily frequent violations of international and international humanitarian law in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, noting that those who do not move to stop this genocide and these violations – with his ability to do so – are complicit in it.

Borrell emphasized that the European Union has many tools that it can use to influence the Israeli government, as it is its largest commercial partner and its main partner in investment and trade exchange between peoples, and it is one of its main suppliers of weapons.

Although the partnership agreement between the European Union and Israel gives the latter a lot of privileges, its second article requires respect for international law and basic human rights, which makes its failure to suspend a serious violation of this agreement, and harms the geopolitical union status, not only in the Islamic world, but around the world.

Double standards

Russian President Vladimir Putin took advantage of the blatant contradiction between the firm response to the European authorities to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and its negative in the face of the war in Gaza, in propaganda that succeeded in the Sahel region, and weakened this European duplication in the standards greatly supported Ukraine in many developing countries.

Borrell summarized the actions of the European Union and its state that distort the continent’s reputation before the world and undermine international law and the multilateral system that they are supposed to defend, namely:

• The European Union insisted on not suspending the partnership agreement despite Israel’s violation of it.
• Failure to prevent arms shipments despite war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
• Failure to prohibit imports from illegal settlements despite the decisions of the International Court of Justice.
• Failure to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers and political leaders who are inflicting a genocide.
• The European Union does not prevent Netanyahu from using European airspace despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
• Failure to support court judges and United Nations officials who were imposed on the United States.

While the European Union is being attacked by Putin in the East and Trump in the West, it deepens its isolation from the rest of the world, and therefore it must decide to impose sanctions on Israel without delay, because this is the only language that can force Israeli leaders to stop their crimes.