Alleged double standards in the EU’s application of international law towards Ukraine and the Gaza Strip are eroding Europe’s credibility with the Global South, with which the bloc is eager to strike trade deals, a former EU ambassador to the Palestinian occupied territories and the Gaza Strip has told Euronews in an interview.
“We have unfortunately lost our standing in the world. If you talk now to the Global South – the majority of countries with whom we want stronger relationships in trade, economic resources, raw materials, and energy supplies – you will find a situation where it is very difficult to mobilise these partnerships,” said former envoy Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.
Kühn von Burgsdorff served as EU ambassador to Palestinian occupied territories and the Gaza Strip between January 2020 and July 2023. He was recently a coordinator of a letter sent by 27 former EU ambassadors – and subsequently endorsed by 58 – to heads of governments and EU institutions on July 10, calling for actions against Israel due to the ongoing situations in Gaza and in the West Bank.
“I was very much impressed by the speed to act against Russia’s completely illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, what we have done in the Palestinian case was just shameful. We have actually closed our eyes,” Kühn von Burgsdorff told Euronews.
Currently the Bahamas and Micronesia are the sole official and active supporters of Europe in its war against Russia from the Global South, according to the ex-EU ambassador.
“This means countries from the Global South do not take the EU and the member states seriously when we pledge to actually support human rights and defend international law,” said the ex-EU envoy, adding that to regain credibility, the bloc needs to “act against what we are seeing every day in Gaza”.
On 7 October, 2023, Hamas attacked Israeli communities near Gaza, killing around 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 people. As of June, 50 hostages remained, of which 27 presumed dead.
Since October 7, Israel intensified military assaults in Gaza and the West Bank, causing over 60,000 casualties in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
On 29 July, the UN said that intermittent blockages of aid since March were causing famine and widespread starvation.
“What is happening every day and night is a horrifying spectacle of killing and mutilating innocent Gazans in pursuit of the Netanyahu government’s stated objective of destroying Hamas. The problem is that, under international humanitarian law, there are established principles governing the conduct of war, such as the distinction between military and civilian targets, the proportionality of actions taken, and precautionary measures to minimise civilian harm and collateral damage. None of these principles have been observed,” the ex-EU envoy claimed
The Israeli government has described its fight against Hamas as existential war and insisted that it has kept within the bounds of international law.
EU inaction
The former EU envoy criticised the inaction of the bloc as well as the inefficacy of the humanitarian deal struck between the EU and Israel, announced by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas on 10 July.
“Kallas announced that on 14 July, a substantial increase in humanitarian aid would enter Gaza. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Not only was no additional aid allowed in, but since that announcement, hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed at aid distribution points,” the former EU ambassador said.
Since April, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organisation co-managed by Israel and the US, has been responsible for distributing food in the Gaza Strip, following the disengagement of UN authorities from aid delivery.
But since the start of its activities, the Foundation has been heavily criticised by NGOs and UN agencies for its distribution practices, including for episodes of alleged shootings by the Israeli army at starving people trying to reach food supplies.
As of 13 July, 875 people died while trying to reach food, the UN reported.
“We really have now to act in order to avoid a complete genocide taking place there. It seems to be an emerging consensus among the European populace, notably among young people, where a clear majority wants our government to take action against this ongoing massacre,” Kühn von Burgsdorff said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar told AP on 28 July that labelling the war as genocide was baseless and only emboldened Hamas. Sa’ar said Israel targets Hamas and not civilians.
The proposition of the ex-EU envoys
The 58 former EU ambassadors made several recommendations for how they considered the bloc should respond to Israel, including suspending trade agreements, ending research and cultural collaboration, and halting arms sales to Israel, Kühn von Burgsdorff told Euronews.
“We could fully suspend the agreement, but that requires consensus among all 27 member states, which, based on our assessment, is unlikely. However, we can act by qualified majority, meaning at least 15 member states representing two-thirds of the EU population can decide on commercial policy measures. In this case, we suggest suspending all preferential trade arrangements with Israel,” the ex-EU envoy said.
In the letter, the ex-ambassadors proposed halting all trade with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and sanctioning violent Israeli settlers. “Almost daily, violent Israeli settlers attack Palestinian homes, torching houses, driving people out, evicting them, and demolishing their properties. This is a clear violation of international military law, which requires that the population in an occupied territory be protected by the occupying power (in this case, Israel),” the ex-EU envoy said.
Israeli officials have condemned violent settlers but described them as isolated incidences rather than systemic.
Among the proposals, the ex-EU envoys called for sanctioning of ministers that call for “the eviction or the annihilation of the Palestinian people, or the complete eviction of people from Gaza, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smodrich, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Mir, or Defence Minister Israel Katz,” Kühn von Burgsdorff said.
“We can also stop academic research and technological programmes we have established under the EU called Horizon Europe, where Israel has been a primary beneficiary for years now,” the ex-EU ambassadors proposed.
EU diplomats on Monday failed to agree once again on a partial suspension of Israel from the Horizon Europe fund in response to the war in Gaza, several diplomats told Euronews.
Gathered online for their regular Mashreq/Maghreb Working Party, the 27 EU diplomats couldn’t reach a qualified majority on a European Commission proposal to cut Israel from partial access to the EU’s €95 billion Horizon Europe research fund.
The ex-EU envoy called the measure a “relatively minor proposal that falls short”, noting it only targets funding for Israeli SMEs, while leaving research, academic ties, trade with illegal settlements, and business relations with entities in those areas untouched
