{"id":31063,"date":"2026-04-05T05:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=31063"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:37:12","slug":"weak-and-pathetic-why-is-the-eu-not-using-its-leverage-to-stop-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=31063","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Weak and pathetic\u2019: why is the EU not using its leverage to stop Israel?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deep divisions on Israel mean the union has failed to act over Lebanon, Gaza, or settler violence in the West Bank<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human costs of Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon<\/a> were plain to see when the Irish MEP Barry Andrews visited Beirut last month. He met people who had fled Israeli airstrikes and complied with evacuation orders in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At makeshift shelters \u2013 converted schools \u2013 conditions were even worse than during Israel\u2019s last incursion in 2024, he was told. \u201cThere are dirty mattresses, dirty blankets, [people] are getting infections, they are getting rashes,\u201d he said, recalling a picture of misery compounded by\u00a0swingeing aid budget cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrews, who chairs the parliament\u2019s development committee, was in Lebanon two weeks after Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, fired rockets into Israel, triggering massive retaliatory strikes by Israeli forces.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On his return from Lebanon, Andrews was one of the first European lawmakers to call for the EU to revive sanctions against Israel. He believes the EU must respond to Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon, but also state-backed settler violence<\/a> in the West Bank, attacks on health workers<\/a> in Gaza, and Israel\u2019s potential reinstatement of the death penalty against Palestinians after a vote in the Knesset<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A mother holds her newborn child in a school now used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Emilie Madi\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet, one month into the Iran war, the EU \u2013 one of Israel\u2019s closest allies and most important economic partners \u2013 has not gone beyond words in an attempt to sway Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government. Critics say the EU can and should use its economic and diplomatic leverage. Andrews said: \u201cWhen the\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0takes a principled stand on these issues, the Israelis do pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU could exert economic pressure via its association agreement with Israel<\/a>, a commerce and cooperation accord that underpins a \u20ac68bn (\u00a359bn) trading relationship and promotes cooperation in areas, including energy and scientific research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sven K\u00fchn von Burgsdorff, the EU representative to the Palestinian territories until 2023, believes the EU should suspend this agreement with Israel, halt all military support and cease trade with illegal settlements. He fears that without action to defend international law in Gaza and the West Bank<\/a>, the EU\u2019s reputation \u201cwill be further severely affected\u201d. He said: \u201cThe usual words of concern and condemnation are not enough; they are meaningless when not followed by effective measures to hold Israel to account.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrews said the EU\u2019s response to the war between\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0and Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon had been \u201cweak and pathetic\u201d. \u201cIt demonstrates that time and time again, Israel has been given a permission slip for endless war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For its part, the European Commission<\/a> condemned the Knesset vote for the death penalty, which would apply to Palestinians but not Jewish extremists, as \u201cvery concerning\u201d and \u201ca clear step backwards\u201d. The Council of Europe, the continental human rights body, which has signed 28 treaties with Israel, described the vote as \u201ca legal anachronism incompatible with contemporary human rights standards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Israel
Israel approves death penalty for Palestinians convicted of carrying out fatal attacks \u2013 video<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Western leaders have warned Israel against a ground offensive in Lebanon, while condemning Hezbollah\u2019s attacks on Israel. In the past four weeks, more than 1,240 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 124 children<\/a>, while more than 1.1 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Away from the headlines, at least 673 people have been killed in Gaza since the October ceasefire, bringing the death toll in the devastated territory to 72,260.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s reluctance to take measures against Israel is a familiar story. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, last September proposed unprecedented sanctions against Israel<\/a>, citing the \u201cmanmade famine\u201d in Gaza and \u201ca clear attempt to undermine the two-state solution\u201d with settlement plans in the West Bank. Von der Leyen, a German conservative, had previously been accused of being an uncritical defender of Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was responding to intense public scrutiny of the horrors unfolding in Gaza, where Israel is accused of committing genocide<\/a>, and the call by a large majority of EU member states to review the bloc\u2019s association agreement. But the sanctions never found majority support in the EU council of ministers and momentum dissipated<\/a> when Trump announced his Gaza ceasefire plan in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ursula<\/a>
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has been accused of being an uncritical defender of Israel. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

EU countries remain concerned about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and relentless violence in the West Bank, which the Israeli state has been accused of enabling<\/a>. \u201cThere may come a point when we need to increase the pressure on Israel again,\u201d said one senior EU diplomat in mid-March, describing the situation in Gaza and the West Bank as \u201chighly problematic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s initial response to the war was cautious in part, diplomats suggested, because Israel and the US targeted Iran, a regime strongly condemned by the EU for massacring its own people and sowing bloody mayhem in the Middle East and Ukraine via drone supplies from Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second EU diplomat, who supported the association agreement review in 2025, emphasised the importance of maintaining contacts with Israeli society, citing an open letter from 600 Israeli security officials calling for an end to the war in Gaza<\/a> last August \u2013 an appeal published as Israel considered intensifying the war on the devastated territory. \u201cThese are not peaceniks \u2026 these are people from the Israeli security establishment, who are very much concerned about the policies of their own government. The EU has to relate to that in one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the EU has been\u00a0historically divided on its stance towards Israel<\/a>. Ireland, Spain and Slovenia, for instance, have been staunch defenders of the Palestinian cause, while Germany and Austria, for historical reasons, have been deeply reluctant to criticise Israel. Adding to the complexity, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, is Netanyahu\u2019s ideological soulmate and has played a crucial role in vetoing otherwise uncontentious measures, such as sanctions on extremist settlers in the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A commission spokesperson emphasised this week that diplomatic engagement with Israel was continuing \u201cand this is what we do with our regular partners when we don\u2019t see developments eye to eye\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00fchn von Burgsdorff, the former EU envoy, argues for a more robust approach. \u201c<\/em>How can it serve Europe<\/a> to be seen as a sidekick of an erratic, unreliable and apparently megalomaniac US president, or of a warmongering, annexationist Israeli prime minister. That cannot be in Europe\u2019s interest, because it comes at the expense of relations with other parts of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/02\/why-eu-not-using-leverage-israel-lebanon-gaza<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deep divisions on Israel mean the union has failed to act over Lebanon, Gaza, or settler violence in the West Bank The human costs of Israel\u2019s attacks on Lebanon were plain to see when the Irish MEP Barry Andrews visited Beirut last month. He met people who had fled Israeli airstrikes and complied with evacuation orders in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[16803,3027,3026,575,1115,52,25547,28427,28425,27554,28426,28428],"class_list":["post-31063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-agression","tag-atrocities","tag-brutalities","tag-eu","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-annexation","tag-eus-silence","tag-invasion-of-lebanon","tag-iran-war","tag-peace-spoiler","tag-potential-of-eu","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31065,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31063\/revisions\/31065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}