EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg will assess a fresh call for a suspension of trade relations with Israel in light of escalating attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank as well as its intervention in Lebanon.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee, who will attend the meeting, jointly wrote to the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, along with her Spanish and Slovene counterparts, seeking a review of the EU Israel Association Agreement.
During a donor conference in Brussels yesterday, Ms Kallas announced that the bill for the reconstruction of Gaza had risen to $71 billion.
The joint letter to Ms Kallas said that a recently passed law in the Knesset, which would impose the death penalty by hanging on any Palestinian convicted in a military court of a deadly attack on Israelis, was just the latest in a grave catalogue of alleged human rights and international law violations.
It said the European Union had to uphold its moral and political responsibility, and defend the very values that had underpinned the European project since its foundation.
It said that Israel was now clearly in breach of Article 2 of the EU Israel Association Agreement, which binds both parties to human rights obligations.
Ireland and Spain first sought a review of the agreement in 2024, but such was the opposition from pro-Israel member states that it failed to reach a consensus.
Last year a Dutch initiative did prompt a review, one which found that Israel had "likely" breached its obligations.
A suspension of trade relations was put on the table but not put into effect as Israel had pledged to significantly boost humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Ministers will again assess Israel’s compliance with Article 2 in light of the death-penalty law, escalating attacks by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and the invasion of Lebanon.
Ms Kallas has hinted that the trade measures could be revived, but again they would need all 27 EU foreign ministers on board.
