Indications. Cartoon 21 June 2025 in CTXT
The EU concludes that there are "indications" that Israel has violated human rights in Gaza. Finally, diplomats have realised that something is going on in Palestine.
In a loose seven-page review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement that entered into force in 2000, these luminaries have found"indications" that Israel has breached its human rights obligations. However, diplomats believe that these findings will not prevent the continuation of the treaty and rule out a full suspension of the agreement. They will remain its partners as long as it continues to commit genocide and all kinds of atrocities.
The report notes that Article 2 of the Agreement is being violated, inter alia, because of "continuing Israeli restrictions on the provision of food, medicine, medical equipment and other vital supplies affecting the entire Gaza population in the affected territory". The report also analyses the situation in Judea and Samaria, noting settler violence.
The most the EU can do is pay lip service to"threatening" to suspend part of the agreement with Israel if the situation in Gaza does not "improve" - who knows what exactly that means in their heads. Nobody should expect tough sanctions and vetoes of any kind.
For the EU, more than 55,000 killed in Gaza is not enough to call a spade a spade. At the beginning of July 2024, The Lancet already spoke of much higher figures in an article in which it "conservatively" estimated that the number of dead (let alone missing) in the Gaza genocide could be 186,000 people or more. This figure would be about 8 per cent of the population.
Source: Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential by Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee and Salim Yusuf. The Lancet. Published 5 July, 2024.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01169-3
Already when this review of the trade agreement was announced, Israel criticised the EU's decision and accused Brussels of strengthening Hamas because you know, anything that does not applaud and support genocide, for Israel, is anti-Semitism. Finally, Israel rejected the findings of the EU's internal review as"shameful and indecent".
For the moment, it is all just fine phrases and hollow posturing without any backing of real action to stop the genocide. However, in view of the complicity and/or thunderous silences, even these positions are welcome. Thus, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestine also left her obvious phrases for the memory:"When we understand what Israel has done we will be ashamed, but it will be too late","Israel is writing in Gaza one of the most horrible pages of history","Israel is writing in Gaza one of the most horrible pages of history","Israel is writing in Gaza one of the most horrible pages of history".
