The majority of the Twenty-Seven countries have received this Thursday with coldness the proposal of the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, to impose sanctions on some Israeli ministers, a decision that requires the unanimity of the member states. Even so, the head of European diplomacy has revealed that he has launched the technical process, convinced that it is “what must be done”. There is clear support, as the States have expressed in a joint declaration, for the demand for “immediate humanitarian pauses” to allow the vaccination of Palestinian children against polio. A campaign that, according to the coordinator of humanitarian aid to Gaza of the UN, Sigrid Kaag, could begin this weekend, if the conditions are met.
The EU remains concerned by the situation in the Middle East and the critical state of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, but not enough to take the step of imposing sanctions on the Israeli government or, at least, on its most extremist ministers. A proposal that Borrell has been defending for some time and which he put forward to the foreign ministers on Thursday, at the informal meeting held in Brussels, in which Ukraine, especially its request to be able to use donated weapons to attack “legitimate military objectives” in Russian territory, and the crisis in Venezuela, were also the focus of attention.
Although he acknowledged that there was “no unanimity” to approve the sanctions, Borrell explained that he had taken advantage of his “capacity as a high representative” and the powers that this grants him to present to the technical body of the Council his proposal to include two ultra-right ministers of Netanyahu’s Cabinet who “launch unacceptable hate messages” on the European sanctions list.
“I certainly haven’t cut off both ears and the tail, but there is a process that has been set in motion (…) I have the ability and the responsibility and I have used it to do what I think needs to be done,” he explained at a press conference.
“The ministers will decide, it is up to them, but the process will be launched, each case will be carefully studied and the ministers will have to make a political decision considering all the circumstances,” he insisted.
Although he has not named names, in recent days he has already mentioned the members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet that he has in his sights: the ultra Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, and the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, also of the extreme right and who has declared that “the Palestinian people does not exist.” Ben Gvir has defended these days the breaking of the status quo by building a synagogue on the Temple Mount. In an interview, he said it would be “moral and justified” to let two million people die of hunger in Gaza in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
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As it was an informal meeting, no decisions were taken at the Brussels meeting, but the caution or even open coldness shown by several of the ministers has made it clear that this is a path that, if it is followed, will still be very long, even longer than the months it took to agree on sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank.
“The real priority is to achieve a ceasefire. The theoretical recognition of Palestine or sanctions against ministers is not what will solve the problem,” said the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. Hungary also flatly rejected an idea that it believes could provoke an “escalation” of violence in the region. The head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, did not want to completely close the door, but she recalled that this measure requires unanimity, which is clearly not there today.
The only minister who has said he fully supports Borrell’s proposal has been the Irish minister, Micheal Martin, who, like the Spaniard, José Manuel Albares, has once again called for the use of the Association Agreement mechanism with Israel – as both countries have been demanding since February, to the Commission’s deaf ears – to put pressure on the Jewish state. “We have to use the full range of measures at our disposal to bring peace back to the Middle East,” the Spaniard insisted.
Lack of consensus
Faced with the lack of consensus to toughen the tone against Israel, the Twenty-Seven have not hesitated to join their voices to demand “immediate humanitarian pauses” to be able to begin vaccination against polio in Gaza, where the first case of the disease in 25 years was recently detected, in a displaced and unvaccinated baby. The UN coordinator of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, was invited to the Brussels meeting, and before a group of journalists she expressed her hope that agencies on the ground could begin vaccination this weekend.
“We have an agreement at the highest level to launch the campaign against polio, hopefully this Saturday or Sunday,” he said.
“We have negotiated access to vaccines, the cold chain and basically achieved a security agreement that has been guaranteed at the highest level,” for which local partners are in “close consultation” with the Israeli army to coordinate key elements such as the areas to be covered and at what times. “It is a very detailed planning process” to be able to distribute the two necessary doses of the oral vaccine to more than 640,000 children under 10 years of age.
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