President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen (C) attends a commemoration on the first anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel at the Great Synagogue in Brussels on October 7, 2024.
Nicolas Tucat / AFP
While EU politicians fail to recognise the crimes being committed by Hamas, they never shy away from bashing Israel for fighting for its survival.
Brussels’ tone on Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists is getting tougher, not that it was particularly friendly in the first place.
Critical remarks had been softer following the November 2024 departure of the European Union’s former foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, who says Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is committing “serious crimes against international law and international humanitarian law.”
But his replacement, Kaja Kallas, said on Wednesday that the situation in Gaza is now “intolerable” and that Israel’s strikes “go beyond what is necessary.”
The situation in Gaza remains intolerable.
Israel’s strikes in Gaza go beyond what is necessary.
Humanitarian aid must never be politicised or militarised.
Challenging the special status of Jerusalem risks further escalating tensions.
And in Germany, which has previously been seen as one of Israel’s main European supporters, Chancellor Frederick Merz stated this week that he “no longer understand[s]” Israel’s objectives in Gaza.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen went even further on Tuesday, saying reports of Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in recent days were “abhorrent” and “disproportionate.” An EU diplomat told AFP these comments were “strong and unheard of” from a commission chief.
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky said it was a shame von der Leyen “did not at least recognise that Hamas has been systematically using civilians as human shields and embedding their military operations, weapons and command centers in schools, homes, hospitals and Mosques.”
The Israel Defense Forces said its strike on a school targeted Hamas fighters who had turned the site into a command center.
Such nuances are often ignored by leaders who—as europeanconservative.com editor-in-chief Mick Hume wrote last week—“have turned the truth on its head and declared to the world that Israel is the real murderer of innocents in its war against the death cult of Hamas.”
As a result, Europe’s elites are emboldening the forces of antisemitism and anti-Western hatred in the Middle East and around the globe.
The bloc is currently reviewing whether Israel is complying with human-rights principles laid out in their association agreement, with Kallas set to present options for next steps at a June 23rd meeting in Brussels.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
