The European Union will review its cooperation agreement with Israel after a majority of national foreign ministers backed the move in response to a widening offensive against Hamas and an 11-week blockade—now partially lifting—on humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Israel said the move reflected “a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing.”
Officials in Britain also suspended trade talks with Israel on Tuesday and summoned the Israeli ambassador over what they described as the “intolerable” offensive in Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announces that the Israeli ambassador has been summoned by the UK government, and negotiations over a free trade deal have been "suspended".
A handful of countries—namely, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Lithuania—were reportedly against the EU review. Germany did, however, back further sanctions on Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank, along with 25 of the other 26 member states. Hungary vetoed the move, while parliamentarians in Budapest also approved leaving the “politically motivated” International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday.
The move from the UK has been a long time in the making. Labour has long been pressured into backing the Palestinian cause and dropped its challenge to the arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu issued by the ICC—now under heavy scrutiny following news of an internal scandal—shortly after winning office last July. Keir Starmer’s government also implemented an embargo on some arms exports to Israel in September.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein bashed Britain’s latest move as being based on an “anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations,” adding that
External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.
Journalist Stephen Pollard also noted that it is now “entirely clear where the government stands vis-à-vis our supposed great ally in the Middle East, Israel, and the Islamist death cult which seeks to wipe Jews—yes, Jews, not Israel—off the face of the earth: it stands with Hamas.”
While Europe upped the ante against Netanyahu’s administration, Israel gave the green light to 93 United Nations aid trucks entering Gaza on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates also says it has reached an agreement with Israel to allow the delivery of more “urgent humanitarian aid.”
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_.
