Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
A package of European sanctions against Israel is expected to be announced today, Wednesday, over the war in Gaza. This package will have significant repercussions for Israel, according to statements made by the European Union's foreign policy chief. This comes just hours after the release of an international report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. According to Playbook, the Brussels-based European version of the American magazine Politico, the European Commission is making strenuous efforts to punish Israel for its war on Gaza. UN monitors concluded on Tuesday that the violence is an ongoing "genocide." As stated in President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address last week, the Commission will approve a proposed package of sanctions this morning targeting extremist settlers and ministers, in addition to trade barriers.
According to the European magazine, the EU's chief diplomat, Kaya Kallas, made her best efforts yesterday, Tuesday, telling Euronews that Israel faces "suspension of the trade part of the Association Agreement" with the EU. Given that this trade amounts to €42.6 billion, 37% of which is in the EU. Preferentially, she said: "This move will have a heavy cost for Israel."
Under the headline "An Inconvenient Truth," the magazine said in a report on Wednesday: There is overwhelming evidence that Benjamin Netanyahu's government doesn't care at all about what the European Union says or does. In fact, the prime minister is promoting a new isolationist vision of Israel as "Great Sparta." (Sparta, of course, lost badly.)
An even more inconvenient truth: Everyone, including von der Leyen, knows she's not calling the shots. When representatives of the countries meet to discuss the package in Brussels today, Israel's EU allies, including Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria, are likely to oppose most of the proposals outright.
Most importantly: Germany's opposition to punitive measures is not expected to change anytime soon. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is still grappling with the fallout from his decision to partially cut off arms sales to Israel. Kallas angered German officials on Tuesday by suggesting that the situation in Gaza might have been better if they hadn't blocked EU action. Chekhov's Sanctions: But Putting Sanctions on the Table Restores Pressure on the Hardest Israel's defenders. Whispers reached Playbook on Tuesday evening suggesting that sanctions against violent settlers might gain approval from Berlin, as well as Rome.
Ireland: Irish President Michael Higgins, arguing that Israel should be expelled from the UN, offered these choice words to his supporters: "I think the European Union will find it very difficult to be a union of any kind again while some of its most powerful members decide to remain silent as they watch emaciated children suffer a terrible human tragedy."
Merz's Moral Maze: On Tuesday, German Chancellor Merz posted a video of himself fighting back tears while speaking at the reopening of a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. But Germany's relationship with the Jewish state, born of the Holocaust, is shaken by the unforgettable horrors recounted from Gaza.
An independent UN commission report released Tuesday concluded that Israel, in addition to other war crimes, partially destroyed the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza, notably through attacks on a fertility clinic. The group of international judges also gathered evidence demonstrating that Israel "deliberately imposed living conditions designed to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinians as a group." They said both actions met the legal requirements for genocide. Israel has consistently denied these allegations and holds Hamas responsible for the civilian death toll.
All this sets the stage... next week, when leaders, including Netanyahu, arrive in New York for the UN General Assembly. Several EU countries will recognize a Palestinian state, and the UN report will be the basis for much of the criticism directed at Israel.
The European sanctions that Israel may already fear: Playbook states: Three Spanish members of the European Parliament are seeking to collect signatures for a letter demanding that the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest suspend Israel's participation. They argue in the letter: "Allowing a country under investigation for possible genocide to use the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for disinformation and cultural normalization contradicts the spirit of this event and its impact on international public opinion." "They join a chorus of voices pressuring the European Broadcasting Union to abandon Israel or face a potential boycott," the magazine added.