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The EU does not need to clarify its support for Israeli colonialism

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A view of the flags of Israel and European Union. [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli colonialism entrenched an apartheid system. The reality has been documented multiple times and acknowledged even within Israel, most prominently by the non-governmental organisation B’Tselem in 2021. Recently, the EU High Representative Kaja Kallas was reported to have used the term apartheid during a visit to Mexico. Kallas has made several contradictory statements since the start of the genocide which reflect both the EU’s lack of political cohesion over sanctioning Israel, as well as the underlying concern to safeguard Israel’s impunity. 

However, Kallas’s remark comparing Israel to South African apartheid, has been blown out of proportion and out of all realms of credibility by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who expressed displeasure at Kallas’s comment and blatantly called Israel “the only democracy in the Middle East”. Not even the world’s former colonial powers truly believe that statement, despite how times it is publicly uttered and endorsed. Former colonial powers recognise colonialism when they see it. 

Kallas’s response to Sa’ar stating he will sever all contact was replete with the usual contradictions, except for the assertion that “The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.” Other than that, prioritising the two-state paradigm as the only solution, while noting that the implementation is becoming impossible due to illegal settlement construction, represents the usual EU position, as reflected in Kallas’s post on X. 

READ: Gaza shifts US politics as pro-Israel lobby suffers setback in New York primaries

The two-state is not a solution, and it is not just settlement expansion that makes the two-state obsolete. It is colonialism, which the entire world refuses to address, in order to maintain Israel’s presence in Palestine. 

The diplomatic spat is nothing but a useless spectacle. Israel revels in finding inconsequential distractions, many of them diplomatic, that briefly shift attention away from more pressing issues, such as the fact that Palestinians in Gaza remain forcibly displaced despite all the talk of reconstruction.

Kallas, meanwhile, responded with the usual statements that reassure Israel of the EU’s commitment to safeguarding colonialism, despite the visible purported disagreements. Sa’ar, for example, accused Kallas of “acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness towards the State of Israel”, yet the only unfairness has been solely directed against the Palestinian people. 

Colonialism is abnormal, and the EU supports it. Why, for example, did Kallas seek to placate Sa’ar instead of taking a firmer stance against Israel’s apartheid system? An utterance by a high ranking official could have been followed by at least a stronger assertion, not to mention that the EU could take political, diplomatic and economic measures that directly target Israel. Instead, the rhetoric is shifted to the two-state paradigm, which is obsolete and which Israel opposes. So much for Kallas being described as anti-Israel, when the response to Sa’ar’s complaint was to find common ground for further Israeli colonial expansion. 

Israel implemented apartheid, and it also committed genocide. In light of Kallas’s unofficial comment, the EU’s Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann told the Jerusalem Post, “It is not the official policy of the European Union that Israel is an apartheid state. I want to make that absolutely clear.”

It is absolutely clear. So much that there is no need for clarification, not even when a diplomatic dispute arises. 

BLOG: Symbolism for Palestinians is impunity for Israeli colonialism

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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