Friday briefing: A ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’ – why is the EU not doing more to sanction Israel?

Good morning. Before we get into the news of the day, a bit of housekeeping.

I’ve been away from the newsletter for a few months, but this isn’t the grand return I’msureyou’ve all been eagerly awaiting. Instead, this will be my last First Edition (cue sad music). After three and a half years, I’m moving teams to join the Guardian’s international desk. So, farewell readers! It’s been real and a proper privilege to be the first port of call for many of you each morning. Apologies for the countless times I’m sure you’ve opened your inbox, bleary eyed, to be greeted by some alarming event. You’ll be in excellent hands with my brilliant colleagues Aamna Mohdin and Phoebe Weston over the summer.

Much attention has been focused on the US’s response to Israel’s bombardment and siege ofGaza. Activists, campaigners and human rights groups have been pushing hard for Washington to do more to pressure the Israeli government to comply with international law.

But there’s another major player that could exert real influence: the European Union. The EU wasIsrael’s biggest trading partner in 2024, accounting for 32% of Israeli exports, and Israel ranks as the EU’s third-largest trading partner in the region, after Morocco and Algeria. Many have argued that this economic leverage gives the EU the means to press Israel to uphold humanitarian law. Yet for the past 21 months, the bloc has been criticised for standing by whileaccusationsofgenocide,warcrimesandcrimes against humanityhave been directed at Israel.

Just last month, the EU released a review that found Israel is breaching its human rights commitments under the terms of their association agreement. Still, there was no move to suspend trade. The decision has been called a“cruel and unlawful betrayal”of Palestinians and European values.

For today’s newsletter, I spoke with secretary general of Amnesty International,Dr Agnès Callamard, about the deep divisions within the EU. That’s right after the headlines.

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Israel-Gaza| An Israeli strike has hit the only Catholic church in Gaza,killing two people and injuring several others, including the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.

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Israel’s full blockade on Gaza imposed earlier this year, along with the expansion of the military campaign, prompted theNetherlands to launch an auditin May to assess Israel’s compliance with the human rights clause of the EU-Israel association agreement.

Last month, much to thefrustration of the Israeli government, the EU concluded that Israel had breached its human rights obligations in both Gaza and the West Bank. The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that if the situation did not improve, the EU could consider “further measures” in July.

It now appears, however, that this was an empty threat. Earlier this week Kallas said the bloc would keep “options on the table” but will not be imposing any sanctions on Israel.

The EU was presented with10 potential optionsfor sanctioning Israel, ranging from suspending academic cooperation and visa-free travel, to blocking imports from Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and ending political dialogue with Israel. None received the necessary support.

A full suspension of the association agreement, which underpins economic and political cooperation between the bloc and Israel, would require unanimous approval from all 27 member states. That was always going to be highly unlikely, given the outspoken support for Israel from a number of countries. However, “suspending the trade chapter” of the agreement, which would strip Israeli products of preferential access to the EU market, could be passed by a qualified majority vote. Even that did not pass.

“It’s absolutely clear that the failure to act breaches the EU’s own rules. It is legally bound to promote human rights in its external relations, including trade,” said Callamard. “This goes beyond a lack of political will. It is, in effect, spitting on your own constitution.”

The EU has been hamstrung, in large part, by divisions among its member states. On one side, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden have, to varying degrees, pushed for greater pressure on Israel. On the other stand Hungary, Germany and the Czech Republic, Israel’s closest allies in the bloc.

Because consensus is required for many of the most consequential policies, “multilateral institutions are paralysed and failing to grasp the historical significance of what we are confronting,” Callamard said. The tide appears to be turning, however, Brussels correspondentJennifer Rankinnotes in her report, as the Netherlands, the country that pushed for the review into Israel’s trade ties with the EU, has historically been a close ally of Israel.

As the EU continues to trundle on, other avenues for pressuring Israel, whether symbolic or more substantive, are being explored. Ireland, for example, isthe first EU member to draft legislationthat would ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

How much leverage does the EUactually have?

The EU holds substantial economic leverage. The 30-year-old agreement represents atrade relationship worth €68bnbetween the bloc and Israel. Israel has also secured grants worth €831m as a member of the EU’s flagship science research programme, Horizon, since 2021. Any disruption from the bloc could place serious strain on Israel’s economy, already burdened by the escalating cost of the war in Gaza and the wider region.

“There is a great deal of economic trade involving the occupied territories, so putting an end to trade with the occupied territories and the settlement economy will have a huge impact on the Israeli economy,” Callamard said.

Many of the world’s most powerful nations have done little to halt the catastrophe in Gaza. In fact, several have continued to support Israel, albeit with increasing caveats as the scale of the horror has become impossible to ignore or deny.

But elsewhere, there has been some movement.The Hague Group, a coalition of countries from the global south that is seeking to hold Israel accountable for abuses in Gaza, was formed by South Africa and Colombia. It now also includes Algeria, Brazil, Spain, Indonesia and Qatar, among others.

Callamard said that while it is encouraging to see these countries take action, they remain in the minority. “The Hague Group is a great initiative, and we have been supporting it from the very first meeting, but it’s not big or strong enough right now to balance out the silence, the cowardice or the complicity of other powerful countries,” she said. “There is no way around it. We absolutely need European countries to act in accordance with their own rules, in accordance with their history and in accordance with international law. Nothing is going to shift if we don’t see that happening.”

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A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

It’s no secret that the art world has an elitist air around it. That’s why George the Poet, podcaster and spoken word performer, has teamed up with the Violence Reduction Unit to remove barriers to entry byreinventing classic art in an immersive exhibition. “When it comes to immersive art, there are no barriers to entry,” said George. His hopes are to give more underrepresented groups access to the arts.The exhibition will be reimagining art cult classics – such as The Scream, The Great Wave, Christ on the Sea of Galilee and The Garden of Earthly Delights – during the summer at Frameless, an immersive art space in London.

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