The high representative, Josep Borrell, joins French President Emmanuel Macron in the demand to stop sending weapons to Israel and which has angered Benjamin Netanyahu. “We all say that there are too many deaths, but deaths continue to increase. This is why the decision taken by the President of the French Republic is so important,” declared the head of European diplomacy during a coinciding debate in the European Parliament. with the anniversary of the Hamas attacks.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop sending weapons [a Israel] lead the fighting in Gaza. France does not do it,” Macron said this weekend. Other countries, such as Spain, suspended the granting of new licenses intended for that country, although previously subscribed weapons continued to be shipped. Macron’s message, which the EU top representative applauded, was particularly aimed at the United States, which is Israel’s main arms supplier and has increased deliveries since the start of the Gaza massacre.
Borrell began his speech by condemning the Hamas attacks and recalling that this is the worst tragedy suffered by the Jewish people since the Holocaust. “Anti-Semitism is the most perverse invention of the human being,” said the Catalan politician, who summarized the number of Israeli victims and demanded the “unconditional release of the hostages” captured on October 7. ‘last year. “From this tragic experience, it is inferred that the people of Israel cannot look to the future if they are not sure that the events of October 7 will never happen again,” he said.
From there, he questioned the expansion of the war to other territories, such as Lebanon, and appealed to Israel’s “limits” in its right to self-defense. “In a war, there are no good or bad victims, there are simply civilian victims, whether Israeli or Palestinian,” he said.
The high representative was also pessimistic about the resolution of the conflict. “The problem is not only the continuation of the war but also the failure of the political perspective,” said Borrell, who admitted that the prospect of a ceasefire “seems to disappear.” “Never have we talked about the conflict between Israel and Palestine as much as today, but never with so little prospect of a political solution,” he reiterated.
“A great effort must be made for dialogue between the civil societies of Israel and Palestine,” added Borrell, who admitted that the approach amid bloodshed may seem “absurd”; but he assured that diplomatic efforts would continue, for example, during events such as the meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean to be held in Barcelona on October 27.
“We need to move from mutual rejection to mutual recognition and if someone feels that this is not possible, they need to think of another solution. “If this solution is not possible, what is the solution? asked Borrell, a staunch defender of the two-state solution that Netanyahu has consistently rejected.
Borrell acknowledged that “Europe is absent” in the Middle East conflict and attributed the lack of leverage in resolving the conflict to divisions that exist between member states. A division that was revealed during the debate in the European Parliament during which the spokesperson for the European People’s Party, Daniel Caspary (of the German CDU), declared that “the response is sometimes too brutal”, but justified the attacks by Israel based on the principle that “whoever resorts to violence must bear responsibility”. “Whoever owns barracks and arsenals in civilian neighborhoods must take responsibility for civilian deaths,” he said, referring to Hezbollah. PP parliamentarian Isabel Benjumea also accused Borrell of “equidistance”: “Israel is a democratic state fighting two terrorist organizations. » The far right, for its part, has come to question the EU’s support for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which it attempts to link to Hamas.
“We need a ceasefire and a two-state solution. Selective empathy must be abandoned. If we don’t stop this with diplomacy and a peace proposal, the children of outrage will react, but not in a positive way. Let us remember that ISIS was born after the invasion of Iraq,” said PSOE MEP Hanna Jalloul.
Sumar MEP Estrella Galán called for an arms embargo against Israel. “Netanyahu does not care about Israeli victims, he cares about staying in power,” he said in reference to his intention to declare a “trade war.” “How far are we going to leave it?” It is the greatest threat to peace on the planet,” he concluded.
Greens/EFA parliamentarian Ana Miranda questioned the confusion between “anti-Semitism” and “denunciation of genocide”. “Too many people have died without solutions being sought,” he declared after asking in plenary whether “all deaths have the same importance” after a year of massacres in Gaza.
