To the European Commission, European Parliament, European Commission, and European Parliament’s High Representative for European Union Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
To the EU Member State Foreign Ministers and Heads of Government
We, the 58 former EU ambassadors, were horrified and outraged by Hamas and other countries’ executions on October 7, 2023. We condemn such acts without a doubt, and no cause can justify them.
However, today we are witness to the abominable spectacle of Israel commiting atrocity crimes against the Palestinians, most specifically in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, akin to a coordinated campaign of brutality, dehumanization, and displacement.
These abhorrent events haven’t been meaningfully addressed by the European Union and nearly all of its member states.
We spent our professional lives defending the interests of the EU’s citizens and upholding fundamental European values and international law as former ambassadors, as well as promoting the reputation of the Union. Due to EU inaction, those interests and reputation are now seriously endangered.
The Netanyahu administration has been conducting a relentless campaign of repression and destruction in Gaza for more than 21 months. The Israeli military’s indiscriminate bombardments have killed, injured, and seriously injured about 10% of Gaza’s entire population, including tens of thousands of children. Gaza’s largest city is now largely made of rubble. Those who survive bombs and bullets are confronted with malnourishment, disease, hunger, and an Israel-intentionally targeted collapsed health system.
By preventing UN agencies and international NGOs from getting humanitarian aid, the ongoing siege is starving the populace. All UN Member States, including Israel, must respect the UN’s humanitarian principles of humanity, humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which are widely accepted and accepted internationally.
The allegedly detailed humanitarian measures that the EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Israel have agreed upon have never been made public or have ever been confirmed by the Israeli government. Contrary to what Ms. Kallas’ announcement indicates, hundreds of men, children, and women have been killed by Israeli soldiers while frantically seeking food and water for their families. We know that this includes the alarming number of civilian fatalities brought on by Israeli military shooting at Zikim, one of the most important border crossing points, as part of the humanitarian EU-Israel agreement.
Israeli leaders are now forcing large numbers of people in Gaza into concentration zones, militarized enclosures built to encircle civilians in intolerable conditions, with the clear intention of forcing them into “voluntary” displacement, with horrifying predictability. De facto forcible population transfer, a serious war crime under international law, is what this and other illegal Israeli policies in the West Bank are. A senior “migration administration” has been established to facilitate this, in line with the defense, finance, and security ministers of Israel, who have all publicly demanded that Palestinians be permanently removed from Gaza. These are deliberate attempts to purge ethnic groups.
Meanwhile, violent Israeli settlers have waged a terror campaign against Palestinian residents in the West Bank while being protected by the Israeli military. In violation of international law, homes are torched, people are murdered, families are expelled, water sources poisoned, herding animals are stolen, olive groves are destroyed, and land has been annexed. State officials arm and encourage the criminals who commit crimes with impunity. These settlers are the front-line agents of a government-driven plan to annex and ethnically cleanse Palestinian territory, not rogue actors.
It is overwhelming to see how dishonest Israel has been and how flagrantly violating all recognized human rights and humanitarian laws have been broken. These crimes have been thoroughly documented by the UN, humanitarian organizations, and independent observers, including Israeli and Jewish voices. The International Court of Justice found that Gaza’s existence could lead to genocide and that Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine was against international law and even against apartheid. The majority of young people in Europe, including those in nations like Germany and Italy, are in favor of their governments taking action to stop this obscene behavior.
Words cannot express how strongly Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank have been condemned by 28 foreign ministers, including those of 20 EU member states. We urgently urge all EU leaders and governments to take all necessary and practicable steps in accordance with international, European, and national law, especially those who prevented the Foreign Affairs Council from intervening on Israel’s egregious humanitarian and human rights violations on July 15. The following should make up the action:
1. In full compliance with international humanitarian law’s fundamental principles, resume international aid deliveries right away when they are scaled and flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian supplies.
2. All arms and dual-use exports to Israel must be immediately suspended.
3. Interfere with any entity or company conducting business in or gaining from Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and impede EU and member states’ commercial and investment relations with them.
4. Suspend the Association Agreement’s preferential commercial arrangements for Israel.
5. Cancel Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe and all EU programs for academic and technical dual use.
6. Israeli ministers, government officials, military leaders, and violent settlers who commit crimes against humanity, aided genocide, and carried out State-sanctioned terrorism are all subject to targeted sanctions.
7. Support international and national judicial systems to prosecute criminals, including the International Criminal Court and domestic courts with universal jurisdiction.
8. Provide humanitarian organizations that are inexcusably under the circumstances political, legal, and financial support for Palestinian civilian victims and human rights activists.
9. Establishing a Palestinian statehood as a prerequisite for a two-state solution.
The European External Action Service noted that “history has too many moments when silence followed horror” on July 17, the Day of International Criminal Justice.
How the EU and its member states handled this catastrophic tragedy will be remembered by the world. Complicity is defined as silence and neutrality in the context of genocide. Every principle that the Union and its member states claim to uphold is abetted by inaction and is encouraged by perpetrators.
The European Union, a long-standing supporter of human rights and the rule of law, must act now in the name of international law, humanity, and justice for the Palestinian people, or risk losing its credibility, influence, and moral standing in the world.
Signatories:
Mikael Barfod
Geoffrey Barrett
Alexander Baum
Thierry Bechet
Kenny Bell
Aad Biesebroek
Jean-Claude Boidin
Giorgio Bonacci
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst
Cautain, Jean-Francois
Peter Beck Christiansen
Tim Clarke
Philippe Darmuzey
Dominique Dellicour
Aldo Dell’Ariccia
Wiepke Van der Goot
Michael Doyle
Sean Doyle
Giacomo Durazzo
Michael Emerson
Manfredo Fanti
Carlo De Filippi
Karen Fogg
Erwan Fouere
Franco, Marc
David Geer
Gerardus Gielen
William Hanna
Geert Heikens
Gilles Hervio
Andrew Jacobs
Rupert Joy
Androulla Kaminara
John Kjaer
Michael Laidler
Eneko Landaburu
Jeremy Lester
David Macrae
Christian Manahl
Brian McDonald
Hugues Mingarelli
James Moran
Francesca Mosca
Amir Naqvi
Luigi Narbone
Pacifici Attilio
Corrado Pampaloni
Elisabeth Pape
Marc Pierini
Rensje Teerink
Daniela Tramacere
Van Damme, Philippe
Marcel van Opstal
Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff
Alan Waddams
Claudia Wiedey
Marc F. Wolff
Wright, Richard
