Rights group urges EU officials to condemn Israel during bilateral meeting News
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Rights group urges EU officials to condemn Israel during bilateral meeting

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged European Union (EU) officials on Monday to condemn Israel’s violations of international law during the EU-Israel Association Council.

Associate EU director at HRW Claudio Francavilla announced, “The only purpose of this Association Council meeting should be to call out those crimes and to announce long overdue measures in response.” HRW said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas and other European foreign ministers must emphasize possible consequences for Israel’s conduct. Such consequences can include sanctions and suspensions of weapon sales.

The EU-Israel Association Council will be held on February 24. EU officials will discuss EU-Israel bilateral relations with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, including topics like the conflict in Gaza. HRW suggests the discussion should review Israel’s compliance with the EU-Israel Association Agreement signed in 2000. The relationship between Israel and the EU is based on respect for human rights under Article 2 of the Agreement. For this reason, in 2024, the governments of Spain and Ireland requested the Council of the EU to review the conformity of Israel’s action with this agreement.

On February 11, a group of human rights organizations, including HRW sent a letter to EU officials. Here, organizations requested the EU-Israel Agreement and possible human rights violations to be at the core of the discussion. The letter urges, “If Israel does not positively address concerns about its breaches of international law at the Association Council and in its immediate aftermath, the EU must suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.”

It is not the first time an organization has requested action from EU institutions regarding Israel. Recently, more than 160 human rights groups stated that the European Commission must ban all trade and business with Israeli settlements. The posture adopted by the EU as a whole regarding Israel’s actions is still divided. Despite EU sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers, concrete action against Israel has not been adopted yet.

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