It was the week of respite. Not for citizens in Gaza and Ukraine, but for the States – Israel and Russia – who bombard them continuously. US President Donald Trump decided on Monday that American weapons can go to Ukraine again (as long as Europe pays for it), but also came to Russia with a rather tame Ultimatum: Russian President Vladimir Putin gets no less than fifty days to think about a cease-fire. And everyone knows what that means: until at least at the beginning of September, the entire summer long, Moscow will continue to bomb, and civilian deaths will fall in Ukrainian cities.
Trumps flirted with violent autocrats; the lack of a moral compass at the US president; The ease with which he puts multilateralism overboard: it is seen in European capitals with disproportionate. Especially when it comes to Ukraine, European policy makers seem determined to do the good, in spite of the American setup. In official speeches, the struggle for freedom that Ukraine not only carries for itself, but for very Europe. European citizens are asked for courage and resilience in these geopolitics turbulent times. That is why it is all the more shocking that EU countries themselves decided on Tuesday not to take action against Israel’s merciless war against the Palestinian population for the time being. Israel, it sounded, still needs to be given a chance to prove that it is willing to allow relief supplies to Gaza, even though the country has clearly failed in that area.
Read also
A deadly fall: how Israel with militarized ‘Food Aid’ Palestinians in Gaza compete
On the instructions of Minister Caspar Veldkamp (Foreign Affairs, NSC), an investigation was recently conducted in Brussels into the question of whether Israel violates the conditions from the association agreement that it has with the EU, such as respect for humanitarian law. The conclusion: Yes, Israel violates those conditions. A logical, coherent next step would have been sanctions, and not the total lack of decisiveness that the EU is now showing. Compared to this, Trumps suddenly feels like a powerful statement towards Putin.
What the now dismantled USAID was for the US is the international law for the EU: valuable soft powerwith which influence and moral leadership can be exerted in the world. The EU has no large armies, no dominant tech companies, no extensive oil fields, but does enforce authority through the rules it keeps high and the laws and agreements on which they are based. With the decision not to put pressure on Israel for the time being, the EU issues a dangerous signal, especially for itself, that international norms and universal values are a choice menu. Sometimes you are looking forward to it, sometimes not.
Last week the EU already reached an agreement with Israel about resuming help. According to Veldkamp, Israel is already showing some goodwill, because it would let a good number of trucks with help every day, although nobody can confirm the minister’s figures. EU countries agreed that they are going to make up the balance at the end of the summer. Everyone knows what that means: in the coming period, Palestinian men, women, young people and children will remain outlaw. The EU ministers were not busy preventing genocide on Tuesday, as they are according to it genocide be obliged to do, but especially with the question of how it can be prevented that Israel must be called to account for this.
Read also
Seven renowned scientists almost united: Israel commits genocide in Gaza
According to Veldkamp, the EU will continue to exert pressure on Israel to ensure that the promise of more help is actually kept. It Track Record Van Israel in this area is not hopeful. In recent weeks, more than eight hundred Palestinians were killed at the official food distribution points furnished by Israel. Getting food has never been so dangerous in Gaza. Wednesday, a day after the respite granted by the EU ministers, there were again dozens of deaths at such a distribution point.
The fact that a little more help is crossing the border is in itself progress (if it is right), but that the EU does not want to use the economic pressure means that it has to be in the direction of Israel is incomprehensible and perhaps even punishable. A group of lawyers from the Franco-Belgian Association of Jurdi (Lawyers for Compliance on International Law) want to drag the European Commission and EU countries for negligence for the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg. An initiative that deserves all support and should serve as a warning for all politicians who think they can close their eyes while crimes are committed against humanity right in front of them.