The EU-Israel Association Agreement is not fit for purpose

It is now possible that the EU-Israel Association Agreement will not be suspended, in light of Israel’s attacks on Iran. No mater how much the EU tries to frame this outcome on Iran, the fact remains that Israel extended its warfare. And for extending its warfare, Israel will likely be rewarded.

The EU has proved itself incoherent when it comes to foreign policy. Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, for example, took a few minutes to speak out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza without calling it a genocide. “To harm the civilian population in such a way … can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.” But as Israel attacked Iran, he lauded the settler-colonial entity for “doing the dirty work for the rest of us”. Iran, he said, “has brought death and destruction to the world.” Where is the proof of this? 

What Gaza exposed to the world should have been recognised from the start by Western leaders. But as long as Israel was standing against a defenceless population, the West remained ensconced within its narrative, complicit in Israel’s killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. When starvation became a point of contention after the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was banned by Israel, the EU prioritised its humanitarian discourse and found a fragment of consensus upon which it could criticise Israel. Once Israel decided to attack Iran, the EU swiftly found another niche for Israel’s security narrative, taking cues from Israel, of course. 

Since Israel’s security narrative still holds sway, Palestinians remain on the bottom most rung of EU foreign policy. Instead of viewing Israel’s belligerence – sustaining the genocide in Gaza and attacking Iran based upon decades of Zionist incendiary rhetoric – as a reason to apply punitive measures, the EU takes a step back from acting against Israel’s interests, which are also its own

READ: US Jewish groups refuse to back Israel’s ‘defensive actions’ against Iran

Remarks by the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas exhibit the duplicity. While noting that the EU-Israel Association Agreement will be debated on Monday, Kallas also reminded the European Parliament “We must remember where this began. Israel has a right to exist and defend itself. No one should live in terror.” Rather than calling out Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Kallas merely spoke of excess violations, which gives Israel parameters for acceptable violations. 

As regards humanitarian aid, Kallas stated, “the answer to threats of aid being weaponised is not to block it but to flood the region with so much aid it cannot be misused.”

The bottom line of such reasoning is – let Israel continue with its genocide within reasonable parameters. Meanwhile, debates and outcomes can be derailed as a result of Israel’s decision to bomb a sovereign country. The EU did not debate its support for Israel’s security narrative, but merely affirmed it. But humanitarian aid has been debated to the point that it only serves the purpose of debate, rather than the Palestinian people. 

The EU-Israel Association Agreement runs the risk of a similar outcome. If the EU justifies its delay over Iran, it should take a look at itself and remember where it all truly started – 1917 Balfour Declaration and subsequent actions. And if the EU argues the bloc had not existed at the time and can therefore assume immunity, it can remember 7 October as the day it sanctioned Israel’s genocide in Gaza to protect Israel’s security narrative. 

BLOG: The politics of postponing Palestine

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