Is the EU losing credibility over its response to the war in Gaza?

It’s been almost 10 months since Israel started its offensive in Gaza in response to the 7 October attacks. The resulting campaign has killed at least 40,000 people — the majority of them women and children.

But even as the number continues to rise and many thousands more remain missing and trapped under tonnes of rubble, the EU has yet to condemn Israel for its apparent violations of international humanitarian law.

This is despite the fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are both investigating Israel for crimes against humanity including genocide, extermination and starvation. 

Alongside three senior Hamas commanders, the ICC has applied for a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.

So far, the EU has been relatively quiet in its support of these investigations — a marked contrast to its consistent condemnation and sanctioning of Russia for its brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

During her submissions to the ICJ in January this year, Irish human rights lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh laid out the case thus: “On the basis of the current figures, on average, 247 Palestinians are being killed and are at risk of being killed each day, many of them literally blown to pieces.

“They include 48 mothers each day, two every hour, and over 117 children each day, leading UNICEF to call Israel’s actions a war on children. Entire multigenerational families will be obliterated and yet more children will become WCNSF — wounded child, no surviving family — the terrible new acronym born out of Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

Despite this evidence — which also included how at least ten children a day were having their limbs amputated without anaesthetic due to Israel’s blockade of adequate food, fuel, water and medical supplies — the EU has refused to utilise the leverage it has over Israel to at the very least show some disapproval of its actions in Gaza.

Compounding the situation, just days after the ICJ heard hours of argument and testimony as to the catastrophic human suffering in Gaza, Germany announced it was intervening at the ICJ on Israel’s behalf.

“The German government decisively and expressly rejects the accusation of genocide brought against Israel before the International Court of Justice,” a spokesman said. 

Meanwhile, just four EU member states — Ireland, Spain, Malta and Slovenia — have called for the Israeli-EU Association Agreement to be reviewed due to breaches of its human rights clause.

After several months of lobbying by such member states, the EU has agreed to hold a general meeting with Israel to discuss the agreement overall — as opposed to drawing on the human rights obligations contained in it with a view to sanctioning Israel.

Stalling

Meanwhile, a recent opinion by the ICJ reiterated years of jurisprudence that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land was illegal and advised that Israel remove its Settlers and pay reparations to Palestinians.

In response, the EU’s diplomatic service led by the High Representative on Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said in a statement that “These conclusions are largely consistent with EU positions.”

“In a world of constant and increasing violations of international law, it is our moral duty to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to all ICJ decisions in a consistent manner, irrespective of the subject in question,” he wrote. “The ICJ Advisory Opinion will need to be analysed more thoroughly, including in view of its implications for EU policy.”

However, the statement may not reflect the individual positions of EU member states. Hungary, Czechia and Austria, for instance, regularly reject criticism of Israel as part of any potential unified EU Foreign policy statement. 

The ICC’s request for warrants for Israeli government members — which, according to Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, contains “a variety of evidence way above the threshold required” — has been stalled by challenges from the UK and Germany, though newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now announced that the country is withdrawing its opposition.

Ursula von der Leyen, who is beginning a second term as EU Commission president, recently called for an end to the war in an address to the European Parliament.

“I want to be very clear: the bloodshed in Gaza must stop now,” she said. “Too many children, women and civilians have lost their lives as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas’ brutal terror.

“The people of Gaza cannot bear any more. Humanity cannot bear it anymore.”

However, for critics of the EU, her words are too little, too late.

“The Global South will not listen to Europe claiming to be an upholder of law,” former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy tells Euronews. 

“No European grandstanding: it’s finished. Europe has demonstrated that it has no interest in those things. And so today, Europe looks weaker and has less support, and people are not going to be lectured to by the European Union.

“On Gaza, the EU has scored a very transparent and dramatic fail in terms of being able to assert that it has been the upholder of international law of the rule of law. It has lost a lot of ground in the global majority – the Global South.”

“We remember during the first year of the Ukraine war that there was a lot of talk about why the rest of the world is not with us – how do we get that global floating vote. The approach towards Gaza led by Ursula von der Leyen has made that claim impossible.”