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The former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, takes part in a debate at Casa Arabe on June 19, 2025, in Madrid, Spain. [Photo By Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images]
Former European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Friday accused EU leaders of being complicit in Israel’s alleged crimes in Gaza by failing to impose sanctions, urging immediate action to uphold international law and human rights, Anadolu reports.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Borrell said Israel’s attacks on Gaza amount to genocide, citing the widespread killing and starvation of civilians as well as the destruction of infrastructure. He also pointed to daily violations of international law by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“But for all those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, there can be little doubt that the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza, slaughtering and starving civilians after systematically destroying all the infrastructure in the territory,” he wrote.
Borrell argued that the EU’s continued inaction despite its legal obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement renders it complicit in the crisis.
“The EU has many levers it could pull to exert significant influence on the Israeli government,” he said, noting that the bloc is Israel’s largest trading partner and participates in several joint funding and exchange programs, including the Horizon and Erasmus programs.
He underlined that Article 2 of the agreement makes cooperation conditional on respect for human rights, meaning that EU leaders have a legal obligation to suspend the deal, warning: “Failure to do so would also be a serious violation of the association agreement with Israel.”
Borrell, who served as the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy until 2024, said he had pushed for stronger measures during his tenure but received little support from member states.
“This inaction has already seriously damaged its geopolitical standing, not only in the Muslim world but across the globe,” he said.
“The leaders of the EU and its member states will probably be called to account in the future for their complicity in the crimes against humanity committed by Netanyahu’s government,” he wrote.
“The EU must finally decide to sanction Israel without further delay,” he concluded.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, takes part in a debate at Casa Arabe on June 19, 2025, in Madrid, Spain. [Photo By Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images]
The European Council missed its chance this week to do something to stop Israel’s “war crimes” and genocide in Gaza, according to a former EU foreign policy chief.
“@EUCouncil failed yesterday to take a decision on Israel’s violation of the Association Agreement’s Human Rights clause. But this is in itself a decision: not to punish Israel’s continued war crimes and allow the genocide in Gaza to continue unabated,” Borrell wrote on X Wednesday.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs political and economic ties between the two parties, includes a binding clause requiring respect for human rights and democratic principles. Failure to comply with this clause can lead to sanctions or suspension of the agreement.
EU foreign ministers met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss growing concerns over Israel’s attacks in Gaza, amid mounting civilian casualties and international calls for accountability. However, member states were unable to reach a consensus, resulting in no formal decision to suspend the agreement or impose sanctions.
Borrell, who concluded his term as the EU’s top diplomat last year, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s attacks and has previously called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which gives Tel Aviv preferential trade terms.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since late October 2023, killing over 58,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference at the end of an Informal Foreign Affairs Council (Development Ministers) in Brussels, on February 12, 2023. (Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act.”
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged the international community to stop “radical members of the Israeli government” from thwarting Palestinian statehood and prevent Israel from turning the illegally occupied West Bank into “a new Gaza.”
Speaking to attendees of an Arab League conference in Cairo, Borrell lamented that a Gaza cease-fire agreement “has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be signed in the near future.”
“Why? Quite simply, because those who are waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it,” he continued. “So, they are just pretending… Because, as it turns out, their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity.”
“If acts have no consequences, if blatant violation of international law remains disregarded, if institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the International Court of Justice rulings are totally ignored by those who promote a rules-based order, who can be trusted?” Borrell asked.
“Not only is there no pause in the war in Gaza,” he noted. “But what looms on the horizon is the extension of the conflict to the West Bank, where radical members of the Israeli government—Netanyahu’s government—try to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his far-right government have openly boasted about their efforts to derail the so-called “two-state solution,” and Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in July to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.
Borrell asserted that “a new front is being opened with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza—in rising violence, delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority, stimulating provocations to react forcefully, and not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza.”
Since last October, Israeli soldiers and settler-colonists have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including more than 140 children. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks including multiple deadly pogroms, during which Israel Defense Forces soldiers stood by, protected, and even joined the attackers.
“Without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza,” Borrell stressed. “And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settlers’ movements are preparing new settlements.”
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act,” Borrell added.
“What can we do?” he asked, continuing:
We need to raise our voice at the next [United Nations General Assembly] and prevent a sort of “Gaza fatigue,” which will embolden the extremists and postpone once again the idea of a political settlement. We have to launch a process where all parties who want to work on an agenda—a concrete and practical agenda to implement the two-state solution—can work together.
Second, we need to revitalize the Palestinian Authority to support their reform process, but also to support [them] financially.
Third, [we have] to facilitate all attempts at dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.
Fourth, [we must] not give up on engaging with Israeli civil society, even in this context—and especially in this context. Everyone, not just the Europeans—Palestinians, and Arab civil society, must do it. I know how difficult it is to reconcile both narratives, but it is the only way to move forward…
Fifth, the Palestinians have to reach a common vision, to overcome their divisions, because the more these divisions exist, the more they undermine the legitimacy and representativeness of the Palestinians.
Sixth, the Europeans need to adopt a common approach. That is what I am working tirelessly on, even if the success is limited, because I have never seen such a dividing issue among the Europeans as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Seventh, the Arab States need also to adopt a truly common approach [to] coordinating and showing solidarity.
“All in all, it means building a balance of power on realistic foundations for the two-state solution—before it becomes, definitely, too late,” Borrell concluded. “I know, it is extremely difficult. However, we must never give up.”
Last month, Borrell called for sanctioning Israeli leaders for hate speech and inciting war crimes in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank. He has also called for an arms embargo on Israel.
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking to arrest Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since October 7, when the Hamas-led attack on Israel left more than 1,100 people dead—some of them killed by so-called ” friendly fire“—and over 240 others kidnapped, Israeli forces have killed at least 40,988 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. At least 94,825 other Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel’s “complete siege” has starved and sickened people across the enclave, with dozens dying of malnutrition.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a press conference on October 2, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Eduard Kryzhanivskyi/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
“This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man-made,” said Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s foreign affairs chief.
The European Union’s top foreign affairs official on Monday said that after more than five months of Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid and bombardment of Gaza, the U.S.-backed government has pushed the enclave into famine.
Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, demanded that Western governments clearly state the reason that at least two of Gaza’s five governorates have now been identified by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global initiative (IPC) as experiencing famine “with reasonable evidence.”
“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine; we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” Borrell said in Brussels at a meeting on humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave. “This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war.”
“By whom? Let’s dare to say by whom. By the one that prevents humanitarian support entering into Gaza,” he said, adding that “Israel is provoking famine.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: "In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine. We are in a state of famine. It is not a flood. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man made. By whom? Lets dare to say it, by whom? … Israel is provoking famine" pic.twitter.com/FztKdE7MRZ
Borrell’s remarks signify that the E.U. has now accepted that “that Israel is starving Gaza,” said journalist Owen Jones, with “straightforward genocidal intent.”
The IPC, which was established in 2004 by the United Nations and international humanitarian groups, said Monday that since the analysis it conducted in December—in which it warned of famine by May if a cessation of hostilities did not take place—the conditions needed to prevent such a catastrophe have not been met.
Famine in Gaza’s northern governorates is now projected to take hold between mid-March and May, the IPC said.
“According to the most likely scenario, both North Gaza and Gaza Governorates are classified in IPC Phase 5 (famine) with reasonable evidence, with 70% (around 210,000 people) of the population in IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe),” said the initiative.
The group uses the famine classification when at least one of three conditions has been observed:
At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food;
At least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition; and
At least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die daily from starvation or from disease linked to malnutrition.
At least 27 children in Gaza have now died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to local authorities, as Israel has attacked civilians seeking humanitarian aid numerous times and has blocked deliveries.
The E.U. said Monday that just 100 tonnes of aid per day are reaching Gaza, compared with 500 tonnes that entered the enclave daily before Israel’s current bombardment.
The entire population of 2.2 million people is now facing high levels of “acute food insecurity,” according to the IPC.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, head of the pediatric department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, told Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) that the facility is seeing the daily effects of Israel’s blocking of aid.
“Amid the famine in the north, there are many cases of elderly people and especially children showing symptoms of dehydration and malnutrition,” said the doctor. “Twenty-five to 30 children are admitted to the hospital on a daily basis, with half of them suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. One child, two months old, died today because of dehydration and malnutrition. Other children are on the same trajectory unless the situation is addressed soon.”
Meanwhile, he said, medical workers themselves are “suffering from physical weakness and extreme exhaustion” as they try to treat people injured in relentless bombings and gunfire.
“As a medical team managing the hospital, we have not been able to secure even one meal,” said Abu Safiya. “Our staff are worn out working 24/7 without food.”
Borrell pointed to recent comments by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Scholz warned: “We cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve.”
“This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man-made,” said Borrell. “Chancellor Scholz is saying Europeans cannot sit and watch Palestinian starving, when on the other side of the border there is food for months accumulated in stocks, while on the other side of the road there are people dying of hunger.”
Rose Caldwell, CEO of children’s rights group Plan International, added that the “entirely man-made catastrophe should be a source of shame for the international community.”
“After months of unimaginable trauma and indiscriminate bombing, the children of Gaza are now facing the horror of starvation and the threat of imminent famine,” said Caldwell. “There can be no excuses: preventing access for humanitarian aid is a clear violation of international humanitarian law. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is illegal and immoral.”
The IPC has classified only two other humanitarian crises as famines: one in Somalia, which killed 490,000 people in 2011, and one in South Sudan, which killed 80,000 people in 2017.
At least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces since it began its bombardment.
“Before the war, Gaza was the greatest open air prison,” said Borrell. “Today it is the greatest open air graveyard.”
Melanie Ward, CEO of MAP, noted that the organization warned in January that its physicians were seeing evidence of severe malnutrition in children.
“World leaders have fiddled at the edges rather than take decisive action which addresses the cause of this starvation,” said Ward. “Now world leaders must insist that Israel immediately opens all land crossings into Gaza, particularly the Karni and Erez crossings, and allows safe and unfettered access for aid and aid workers.”
“Children in Gaza are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever known,” she added, “and their survival depends on more food, fuel, and water entering Gaza immediately, as well as a lasting cease-fire.”
