Was it an angry call or a friendly invitation? When the European Union and Israel conduct official talks, it tends to be a sign of heat links – like the latest publication in 2022 or the previous round a whole decade ago.
This time had to be different. Instead of plans to increase cooperation, the impetus for Monday meeting was a push from two EU countries last year to review trade and links with Israel for its behavior in Gaza – including actions that the International Criminal Court has Say then it can reach war crimes and crimes against humanity.
‘Not a court’
But Israel denies those accusations and EU resources were clear before the Association Council in Brussels. “The idea is to continue the dialogue and not keep a court for Israel,” said a senior diplomat.
Original Spanish and Irish cars to review the agreement of the EU-Israel association, which regulates trade and includes provisions for human rights support, was also “not on the table”.
EU diplomats told DW that it took months of internal negotiations between the 27 countries, which range from fierce critics to the rapid friends of Israel, to reach the necessary compromises to collect the first talks since Terrorist attacks of October 7 Hamas.
Israel seemed to see the EU invitation as a positive sign. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the meeting demonstrated “the desire to renew a normal relationship”.
“This is not to say that there are no differences of thought,” he told DW and other exits in Brussels. “You need to know how to deal with them,” he added.
Be rejects Trump’s Gaza plan
EU treated ingenuityh its own internal changes Designing a 57 point statement filled with censorship and praise for Israel, which a diplomat calls “everything for everyone”.
After President Donald Trump suggested that the US “take over” Gaza, the bloc insisted “the displaced Gazans should be provided with a safe and dignified return to their homes.”
And while greeting a fragile ceasefire on the belt and demanding that Hamas release hostages, the EU said that “depreciates the unacceptable number of civilians, especially women and children who have lost their lives, and the catastrophic situation caused particularly caused from insufficient Gaza aid entry. “
Brussels continued to express “strong opposition to the Israeli solution policy” and said he “strongly condemns further escalation on the West Coast, after increasing increased violence, expanding illegal settlements, Israeli military operations and increasing terrorist attacks against Israel. “
The EU also urged Israel to “allow a tangible improvement in freedom of movement and access to the Palestinians” and added that it “opposes all actions that undermine the sustainability of two -state settlement”.
Israel: EU connections should not be held hostage ‘
Israel’s Foreign Minister arrived with his statement with 149 paragraphs that encompasses everything from tourism to transport cooperation, with warnings of increasing anti-Semitism in Europe and calls on EU states to promote laws to combat hatred against Jews .
The text included counter-arguments to predict EU criticism of Gaza, saying that Israel was “forced to go to war … to dismantle Hamas’s military and government skills, liberate hostages and restore security to citizens its. “
“Since October 7, Israel has been under constant attacks and existential threat,” the statement said.
Israel continued to insist that “he has made considerable efforts to allow and facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza” and blamed Hamas looting for difficulty distributing aid.
And after the talks were over, Gideon Saar summarized his field in Brussels, telling journalists to Israeli-EU relations “should not be held hostage to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Printed by DW if Brussels’ warnings influenced Israeli behavior on the west coast, Saar showed bombs planted on Israeli buses last week as evidence of the terrorist threat facing the country.
“We’ve heard the concerns of certain member countries. I explained that everything we do there, we’re doing it in order to protect us,” he said. “We have to do it in order to protect our citizens, and that is what we will continue to do.”
EU approach ignites campaign criticism
While little reading between the rows was needed to mark the bay in positions between the two sides on paper, the mood was much more friendly personally, with many smiles and handshakes.
And after official talks, described by EU foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas as “honest”, Saar continued to meet with senior EU officials, including Commission President Ursula Der Leyen and President of European Parliament Roberta Metsola, whom he called “a true friend of Israel”.
Oxfam was quick to slam Brussels’ approach.
“The EU includes human rights clauses in its bilateral agreements for one reason, however with Israel, these clauses look optional,” said the humanitarian aid expert Agnès Bertrand-Sanz. “This is not diplomacy – this is cooperation,” she added.
Claudio Francavilla from Human Rights Watch was in the same critical way, insisting there should be no “no business as usual” with a country “whose sitting prime minister is required for cruel crimes by the International Criminal Court”.
ICC: Support or disrespect?
The ICC order to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, issued in 2024, hit the titles in Europe again this week when Chancellor in Germany waiting for Friedrich Merz said he had promised the Israeli prime minister “he could visit Germany, and leave again, without being arrested ”
It is not the first time that an EU member has suggested that he may act in significant violations of law obligations that require the parties to the ICC state to submit any suspects requested by the court entering their territory.
With the EU’s statement to Israel emphasizing his “unwavering support” for ICC, DW asked the Block chief if the Merz invitation was appropriate.
Kaja Kalas said the EU supports the “neutrality and functioning” of the court and remembered that all EU states were signed in ICC rules.
“But it is true that the implementation of ICC guarantees is up to the member states to decide,” she added.
Israel on Monday clashed the court for “unilateral decisions” seeking to undermine the “country’s right to protect its territory and citizens and exist in peace and security”.
The Israeli statement reiterated the accusations of the past, rapidly rejected by ICC, that the arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu constitutes “pure anti -Semitism”.
Edited by: Jess Smee