Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin Lynn Boylan has called on EU foreign ministers meeting at the Foreign Affairs Council today to finally suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The Foreign Affairs Council will meet today in Brussels and several Member States, including Ireland, have called for suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement to be on the agenda.
MEP Boylan said:
“Israel is violating human rights in Palestine, in Lebanon and in Iran and yet the EU has still not taken action.
“After watching a live-streamed genocide in Gaza, illegal settler attacks in the West Bank and the introduction of racialised capital punishment, the EU must decide whether it wishes to have any credibility when they speak about human rights and international law.
“Suspending the Association Agreement is not a sanction, it is a decision to correctly apply the provisions of that Agreement, in particular Article 2 which clearly predicates the beneficial trading arrangements that Israel enjoys on respect for human rights.
“Since the genocide in Gaza began, we have seen EU leaders refuse to uphold international law and their own Treaties and agreements.
“This has profoundly damaged their credibility throughout much of the world and will have lasting consequences for wider diplomatic relations.
“Human rights must be non-negotiable. Israel has crossed every red line and engaged in egregious breaches of human rights and international law.
“EU leaders must stop pretending that they are dealing with a normal government.
“Their leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court and their ministers have championed hanging based on ethnicity.
“For Member States such as Germany and Italy, this Foreign Affairs Council represents a test of whether these countries can finally stand up to Israel and uphold the EU’s own agreements.
“We do not need more statements of concern. We do not need more weak-willed condemnation.
“Anything less than suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement will be an act of profound moral cowardice from which the EU may never recover.”
