To presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, and the High Representative of Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy of the European Union,
To heads of government and foreign affairs of the EU member states,
We, 58 former ambassadors of the European Union, were dismayed and indignant by the massacre of innocent Israelis and the hostage of October 7, 2023 by Hamas and others. No cause can justify such acts, and we condemn them downright.
Today, however, we are witnessing the horrible show of the daily realization of Israel, on an atrocity against the Palestinian people – especially in Gaza, but also in occupied West Bank, equivalent to a systematic campaign of brutalization, dehumanization and displacement.
The European Union and almost all of its Member States have not responded significantly to these horrible events.
As an animal EU ambassadors, we have devoted our professional life to maintaining and promoting basic European values and international law, constituting the reputation of the European Union and defending the interests of its peoples. These interests and this reputation are now in serious danger due to the inaction of the EU.
For more than 21 months, the Netanyahu government has continued an incessant campaign of violence and destruction in Gaza. About ten percent of the entire population of Gaza, including tens of thousands of children, were killed, mutilated and seriously injured by the blind bombing of the Israeli army. Most Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Those who survive bombs and bullets are faced with hunger, malnutrition, illness and a healthy health system deliberately targeted by Israel.
The current headquarters is hungry for the population by blocking humanitarian aid supplies from the United Nations and international NGOs. The replacement of UNRWA and other international assistance suppliers established in Gaza with a politicized and militarized assistance operation led by mercenaries is a violation of the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence of the UN, that all the Member States – including Israel – must respect in their entirety.
Concrete humanitarian measures would have agreed under the agreement that the high representative of the Kaja Kallas obtained with Israel was not made public, and the agreement has never been confirmed by the Israeli authorities. On the contrary, since the announcement of Ms. Kallas, hundreds of men, children and women have been killed by Israeli soldiers while desperately looking for food and water for their families. This includes an alarming number of civil deaths caused by the Israeli military shot on Zikim, one of the main points of crossing at the borders, which we understand part of the EU humanitarian agreement with Israel.
Now, with appalling predictability, Israeli leaders force expanses of the Gaza population in concentration areas – militarized enclosures designed to confine civilians in intolerable conditions, with the clear aim of pressure them in the “voluntary” movement. This, with other illegal Israeli policies in the West Bank, constitutes de facto a transfer of forced population, a serious war crime under international law. The Israeli Defense, Finance and Security Ministers have all openly called for the permanent elimination of Palestinians from Gaza, and a senior “migration administration” was created to facilitate it. These are stages calculated to ethnic cleaning.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, violent Israeli settlers, with full protection of the Israeli soldiers, led a campaign of terror against the Palestinian communities. The houses are burnt down, the inhabitants are murdered, the families expelled, the poisoned water sources, the stolen farming animals, the olive groves destroyed and the annexed lands in violation of international law. The authors who act with impunity are armed and encouraged by state representatives. These settlers are not rogue players – they are the leading agents of a government -focused program to annex and ethnically cleaning and cleaning Palestinian land.
The proof of Israeli embezzlement and its flagrant violation of all humanitarian laws and known human rights are overwhelming. The United Nations, humanitarian organizations and independent observers – including Israeli and Jewish voices – have documented these crimes in detail. The International Court of Justice has determined that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and that the prolonged occupation of Israel of Palestine is not only illegal, but even constitutes the crime of segregation or apartheid. European public opinion and the majority of young people, including in countries like Germany and Italy, are clearly in favor of their acting governments to stop this horror.
We welcome the recent conviction of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank by 28 foreign ministers, including those of the 20 EU member states, but words are not enough. We urgently call on all EU leaders and governments, in particular those who prevented the Council for Foreign Affairs, on July 15, from acting against human violations and human rights of Israel, to end all the necessary and achievable measures under international, European and national law to end these atrocities. The action must understand the following:
1. Immediately represent international aid deliveries and flood the Gaza band of humanitarian supplies, in full respect for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
2. Suspend with immediate effect all weapons and double -use exports to Israel.
3. Prohibit trade with illegal establishments of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and prohibit the commercial and investment relations of the EU and the Member States with any entity or business doing business or benefiting from the illegal regulations of Israel.
4. Suspend all preferential commercial agreements for Israel under the association agreement.
5. Cancel Israel’s participation on Horizon Europe and all research, academic and technological programs for double use of the EU.
6. To impose targeted sanctions on Israeli ministers, government representatives, military commanders and violent settlers responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, the facilitation of genocide and the realization of terrorism sanctioned by the State.
7. Support international and national judicial mechanisms – including the International Criminal Court and the National Courts under Universal Jurisdiction – to legalize the authors.
8. Provide political, legal and financial support to Palestinian civilian victims, human rights defenders and humanitarian organizations operating under impossible conditions.
9. Recognize the Palestinian State to create the prerequisite required for a solution to two states.
On July 17, the day of international criminal justice, the European external action service recalled that as regards crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocides … “History has too many moments when silence followed the horror …”
The world will remember the way the EU and its member states react to this catastrophic tragedy. Silence and neutrality in the face of genocide constitute a complicity. Inaction encourages the authors and betrays all the principles that the Union and its member states claim to be respected.
While continuing to constantly call the return of hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the end of the war, the European Union, a champion of human rights and the rule of law, must act now in the name of international law, humanity and justice for the Palestinian people-or risks losing their credibility, influence and moral position in the world.
Signator:
Mikael Barfod
Geoffrey Barrett
Alexander Baum
Thierry Bechet
Kenny Bell
Aad Biesebroek
Jean-Claude BOIDIN
Giorgio Bonacci
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst
Jean-François Cautain
Peter Beck Christiansen
Tim Clarke
Philippe Darmuzey
Dominique Dellicour
Aldo dell’riccia
Wiepke van der Goot
Michael Doyle
Sean Doyle
Giacomo Durazzo
Michael Emerson
Manfredo Fanti
Carlo de Filippi
Karen Fogg
Erwan Fouere
Marc Franco
David Geer
Gerardus Gielen
William Hanna
Geert Heikens
Gilles Hervio
Andrew Jacobs
Joy Rupert
Androulla Kaminara
John Kjaer
Michael Laidler
Eneko Landaburu
Jeremy Lester
David Macrae
Chrétien Manahl
Brian McDonald
Huges Mingarelli
James Moran
Francesca Mosca
Amir Naqvi
Luigi Narbone
Attilio Pacifici
Corrado Pampaloni
Elisabeth Pope
Marc Pierini
Rensje Teerrink
Daniela Tramacere
Philippe Van Damme
Marcel Van opstal
Sven Kuhn von burgsdorff
Alan Waddams
Claudia WIEDEY
Marc F Wolff
Richard Wright
The opinions expressed in this article are the own authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.