Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Today, Friday, European Union Foreign Policy Coordinator Josep Borrell will hold talks with senior officials in the Kingdom of Bahrain as part of a tour that also includes Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar to discuss the possibility of humanitarian access and political issues with regional leaders.
  The European Union Foreign Minister arrived in Bahrain from Israel following talks he held with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. In a post this morning on X (formerly Twitter), European foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano quoted Borrell as saying to the Israeli president during the talks, “I came with a message of solidarity and support.” But I am also concerned about the suffering in Gaza. I want to ask you to do your best to reduce the suffering of civilians.
Borrell's office in Brussels published a speech delivered by the European official during the meeting with the Israeli President, Mr. President Isaac Herzog. Thank you very much for receiving me. It is a great honor and a special responsibility to be here with you and to speak on behalf of the 27 member states of the European Union. “It is a great responsibility, and with your permission, I will have to support [myself] with paper in order to be sure that I convey the exact message that I want to convey to you. The first It is clear, and you do not need a piece of paper to express it: It is a message of solidarity. It is a message of support. It is a message that tells Israel that the European Union is with you and supports you in your right to defense in accordance with humanitarian and international law.
This morning I was in Kibbutz Be'eri. I also met with the families of the hostages. It was a difficult meeting, a heartbreaking meeting. I come from a country that was fighting terrorism that was kidnapping people - wherever. They were kidnapping people and killing them. I personally know what it is like for families to have a loved one in a state of uncertainty. where is he? They asked us to do everything we could to get them released, and that's what I promised them. We can't bring back people who were killed, but we can free people who were taken hostage. And so, we are working. Mr. President, after witnessing the horrific events that occurred near Gaza, I must also express my concern about the situation in Gaza itself. The United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution that I believe is important because it calls for more Support for people suffering in Gaza. They are also victims of Hamas. I am shocked by the human suffering of the Israeli people, but I am also concerned about the suffering of the people in Gaza.
I want to ask you to do your best to reduce the level of civilian suffering. Because I believe that the international community - including the European Union - made a political and moral mistake, as it did not take sufficient consideration of the problem of peace in Palestine and Israel. Perhaps these tragic circumstances will provide an opportunity to deal with this again, because only peace will bring complete security to Israel.
This is something we must do, and I say this as a friend of Israel.
I come from a part of the world - the European Union, Europe - where we have been fighting against each other for years, destroying, killing, almost committing suicide. In the end we reconciled and today you can travel from Gibraltar to the North Pole without crossing any borders.
Borders, Mr. President, are the scars that history has carved on the skin of the earth. We have to overcome that. We must make peace - not only between Israel and the Arab countries, but between Israel and Palestine.
Mr. President, I have a long history in my relationship with Israel. I was a close friend of Shimon Peres [former Israeli prime minister], and Shimon told me one day: “War is not inevitable. What cannot be avoided is peace.” Unfortunately, peace has not come - not yet.
It is our common endeavor and our common responsibility to try to fight so that no more lives are lost. No more human suffering.
This is the commitment I bring with me from the European Union: to support you, to support you in defending yourselves, to support you in respecting the laws of war, to support you in making peace.