JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to withdraw a proposal that would curb trade ties in a bid to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
“Pressure through sanctions will not work,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a letter to Von der Leyen.
The initiative, announced during her State of the Union speech last week, is due to be discussed Wednesday by the European Commission’s College of Commissioners, which she chairs.
If approved, it would freeze the EU’s bilateral support to Israel, halting all payments, while preserving cooperation with civil society groups and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
According to the commission, the move would block future allocations of about six million euros ($7 million) annually and suspend disbursement of roughly 14 million euros for ongoing institutional projects.
The EU executive also plans to propose sanctions against “extremist ministers” and “violent settlers.”
“This unprecedented proposal, which has never been applied to any other country, is a clear attempt to harm Israel while we are still fighting a war imposed on us by the October 7 terror attack,” Saar wrote, referring to the Hamas-led assault on Israel that triggered the now two-year war.
He added that Israel had not been notified or consulted and warned the measures would “empower Hamas” and “jeopardize efforts to end the war.”
Diplomats say the measures are unlikely to be adopted given deep divisions among the EU’s 27 member states over Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Last week, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution endorsing Von der Leyen’s proposal to suspend bilateral support and partially suspend the EU-Israel trade agreement.
Lawmakers also urged sanctions against Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Israel urges EU chief to drop proposed sanctions over Gaza war
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Israel urges EU chief to drop proposed sanctions over Gaza war
- “Pressure through sanctions will not work,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a letter to the European Commission president
- EU executive also plans to propose sanctions against “extremist ministers” and “violent settlers”
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
