European Union Foreign Ministers decided on Monday to postpone until July any decision on measures against Israel following the presentation by E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas of a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
According to the review document, there are “indications” that Israel’s action in Gaza place it in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the Association Agreement.
Kallas said after the monthly meeting of the 27 E.U. foreign ministers—the “Foreign Affairs Council”—in Brussels that she will “address the results” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
“Our first goal is to change the situation on the ground [in Gaza] and help the humanitarian aid get in and help the people. So today was the beginning of the debate and not the end,” Kallas told reporters after the ministerial meeting.
She stressed that that the E.U.’s priorities “are clear: return to full ceasefire, full humanitarian access and the release of all hostages.
“If the situation does not improve, then we can also discuss further measures and come back to this at the next Foreign Affairs Council in July,” Kallas said.
“I will not be the only one who does the outreach [to Israel]. Other ministers will do it as well and express the same things that we have said today: that we have a structured dialogue about this, with Israel,” she added.
On Monday, Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia called for a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, while others such as Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden stressed the need for action.
However, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Romania opposed suspension of the agreement.
Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, also called for an arms embargo on Israel.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters that Israel had “clearly violated” Article 2 of the E.U.-Israel agreement. “Ministers would draw the consequences at their meeting in July,” he said.
Such a suspension would require unanimity among the 27 member states.
‘Outrageous and indecent’
Israel has described the E.U. review report as “outrageous and indecent.”
In a document sent to the European External Action Service, the diplomatic service in charge of executing all international relations of the European Union, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the review was “a biased and extremely one-sided summary of many anti-Israeli voices.”
The report is “absurd,’’ the ministry continued. “It reflects an unprecedented process directed at a democratic state in the midst of war.”
The E.U. report is largely based on findings from U.N. bodies, which are very anti-Israel.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem recalled the “strategic reality Israel is facing: Since October 7, Israel has been fighting a war on seven fronts. Iran, with its extremist ideology, is aiming to eliminate the State of Israel. Iran’s regime has long pursued the annihilation of the Jewish state through a nuclear program, ballistic missiles and a network of terrorist proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.’’
According to the ministry, the report “fails twice.”
“It fails morally, neglecting to address any damage inflicted on Israeli civilians, who since before and after the October 7 attacks, have always been the only target of endless Palestinian terror attacks,” the ministry said.
“It fails to mention Hamas’s stealing of humanitarian aid, and most astonishingly—in a report focused only on Palestinians, it fails to mention any crimes by Hamas against its own citizens, despite continuous and abundant proof, including videos, of regular public executions of its opponents,” the ministry added.
The report, the ministry continued, “aims to deny Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. It does not cite any of the many positive actions undertaken by Israel in the humanitarian field and neglects to mention the continuous refusal by Hamas of a U.S.-brokered hostage deal (the ‘Witkoff Proposal’) which Israel has agreed to.”
The Israel-Iran war was also high on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
“Today there was a broad consensus among European countries that we must continue the discussions, because diplomacy is the way to achieve a long-term agreement with Iran in order to prevent it from having nuclear weapons,” Kallas said.
“Iran has been a threat for decades, and the E.U. has always said that it should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, as it would pose a threat to international security. But military actions are always fraught with risks and uncertainties. What matters now is minimizing the risk of further escalation,” she added.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.