Europe’s Gaza stance damaging its reputation

Over the last five months, the supposedly most powerful and influential actors in the international firmament of nations have found the whole Gaza conflict politically paralyzing. Far from bringing their collective muscle to the table to bring about a ceasefire, ensure aid is delivered to those being starved and make sure the proper accountability mechanisms are engaged, they have all lost their way and look overawed by the risk of losing warm relations with the state of Israel.
Few of the big guns have fired more blanks than the EU and Europe as a whole. In theory, Europe has much at stake. Gaza is in its near neighborhood. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner. The clear and obvious security ramifications have been in evidence from the Red Sea to Iraq, from Lebanon to Yemen. In a continent with major Muslim and Jewish populations, community cohesion has also been tested, with both rising Islamophobia and antisemitism.
Just what, then, is the EU foreign policy toward this conflict, given its seriousness and impact on the continent? From the outset, the EU position was to keep Israel close. Many states flew the Israeli flag or shone it on their government buildings after Oct. 7. Not one has displayed a Palestinian flag in solidarity with the 570,000-plus Palestinians being starved in Gaza right now.
Officials and EU member states swiftly declared support for Israel’s right to self-defense but with no expressed restraints on Israeli behavior, something noticed in the Israeli leadership. There was understandably warm support for the release of the hostages. Very little was said in opposition to Israel’s “total siege” of Gaza.
However, this unity was soon seriously tested, even within the European Commission. Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Israel in October, during which she emphasized unequivocal support for Israel, was seen by many as politically risky and naive. Even worse was Oliver Varhelyi, the Hungarian commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, initially suspending all aid to Palestinians, something which had to be reversed.
Charles Michel, the European Council president, and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy supremo, have been more outspoken against what Israel is doing. Last Tuesday, Borrell told the UN Security Council: “Starvation is being used as a war arm and when we condemned this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words for what is happening in Gaza.” That is, of course, a war crime. It was what the EU accused Russia of in Ukraine. Borrell did not go that far. But this was the toughest comment so far made by a senior EU official.
On the UN Relief and Works Agency, the EU made the dangerous and careless mistake of blindly following the US position. It suspended all aid to UNRWA following Washington’s decision, only to partially reverse this on March 1. Israel has yet to provide any evidence whatsoever about UNRWA staff complicity in the Oct. 7 atrocities. The EU, the UK and the US should have waited until evidence was provided and properly examined. This situation reveals the dangers of accepting Israeli official positions at face value. Germany and the UK should follow the EU’s lead. In fact, all funding should be restored until any evidence of institutional complicity is provided.
The EU was swift to take action on mere allegations regarding UNRWA, but it has done nothing regarding the Israeli shelling and bombardment of 157 of the agency’s installations. The EU has not called for an independent inquiry into how 162 UNRWA staff in Gaza have been killed since last October. The weakness and double standards are breathtakingly clear. 

The EU has done nothing regarding the Israeli shelling and bombardment of 157 of UNRWA’s installations.

Chris Doyle

But what about the key member states? The EU’s position is only ever as strong as its member states. A collective common foreign policy has to be determined through a unanimous position. This is why, at the December EU leaders’ summit, no statement was forthcoming.
One can identify several key groupings in the EU, as exemplified by the voting records at the UN. There is a small group that supports Israel come what may. This certainly includes Viktor Orban’s Hungary, as well as, for the most part, Austria and the Czech Republic. Hungary and the Czech Republic have also blocked sanctions on Israeli settlers. Budapest even blocked a joint EU statement calling on Israel not to invade Rafah.
Germany hovers in between this and a grouping that is, on occasions, prepared to criticize Israel, particularly on settlements and the creation of obstacles to any two-state solution. Various states in these groups, along with the UK, continue to sell weapons to Israel.
At the other end of the spectrum are Belgium, Ireland and Spain, which have been prepared to criticize all parties, not just Hamas. Last month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar publicly called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Sanchez has also declared that he will introduce legislation in parliament to recognize the state of Palestine. France is an occasional member of this grouping. President Emmanuel Macron has, for example, expressed his country’s “firm opposition to an Israeli offensive in Rafah, which could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude.”
But not one single state can genuinely be described as fully backing Palestinian rights. Hardly any European statesman has condemned the genocidal comments made by Israeli leaders. While most European actors have barely criticized Israel’s carnage in Gaza, they have, at best, inched toward a more critical stance on illegal settlements. Italy has, for example, objected to an Israeli settlement mayor, Benny Kashriel, becoming Israel’s ambassador in Rome, forcing Tel Aviv into a change. Norway, which is outside the EU, has issued advice to businesses not to engage in activity with settlements.
Meanwhile, public opinion in Europe has tended toward supporting an immediate ceasefire. Typically, opinion polls show that there is support for a more critical position toward Israel. It leaves many wondering what is going on.
What damage has this done collectively to European soft power? Europe’s reputation will not just undergo a reset when Palestinians in Gaza finally enjoy a real ceasefire. This is doing long-term damage, possibly even irreparable. Many have cited the US’ image crisis, but Europe has one too. European states may be easier to penalize for this moral cowardice and hypocrisy.
As for the EU as a bloc, it has once again exposed an inherent strategic weakness, which is exploited by many on the outside, of 27 member states, some of which are well entrenched in the far-right camp, having to coalesce around unanimous foreign policy positions. Israel is not the first and will not be the last actor to profit from this.

• Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London.
X: @Doylech