While the US government has given Israel carte blanche to commit genocide, many of us held out hope that Europe would be different – more principled, more bound by its own human rights commitments. But Europe has proven no better; it has been complicit through trade deals, a steady flow of weapons, and brutal crackdowns on pro-Palestine protesters across the continent.
At the July 15, 2025 meeting of the European Union-Israel Association Council, European foreign ministers had a chance to act, but they refused to take punitive action under the agreement’s human rights clause. Instead of imposing sanctions or halting arms sales, Europe offers tax breaks, preferential market access, and diplomatic legitimacy.
And while European officials justified this by saying Israel had agreed to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Israel is still starving people to death and forcing the children it has maimed to undergo amputations with no anesthetics.
Under international law – including the EU’s own human rights clauses – Europe is obligated to suspend agreements with countries committing grave violations. Yet it continues to benefit from Israeli technology, weapons, and surveillance systems – many of them field-tested on Palestinian civilians.
United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese condemned Europe’s inaction, calling it a violation of both legal and moral duties. She had urged the EU to suspend the trade agreement. The impact of the suspension would have been enormous because the EU is not only Israel’s largest trading partner, but also its largest investment partner, investing nearly twice as much as the US.
“It is absolutely sickening that the EU leadership rewarded this country with more economic partnership instead of putting an end to the genocide,” Albanese said.
Several EU countries maintain especially strong ties with Israel through military, economic, and diplomatic channels. Germany stands out as the most significant partner, supplying over $355 million in arms in 2023 – including submarines and tank engines – and ranking as Israel’s second-largest global arms supplier.
Italy and France maintain long-standing military ties as well. Italy is the EU’s third-largest arms exporter to Israel, while France exported approximately $182 million in military equipment in 2023 before partially suspending sales under mounting public pressure.
Beyond arms, the Netherlands is Israel’s largest European investor, responsible for two-thirds of EU capital flowing into Israeli industries. Greece has also deepened its strategic partnership with Israel, holding joint military exercises and advancing energy cooperation. Hungary consistently shields Israel diplomatically within the EU, blocking critical statements and threatening to withdraw from forums that try to hold Israel accountable. Austria brands itself a “strategic partner,” maintaining close political and trade links.
Excerpted: ‘Europe’s Betrayal of Gaza’.
Courtesy: Commondreams.org