A HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL at the European Commission has described Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip in Palestine as a genocide, apparently breaking from the EU executive’s official position on the conflict. 

Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s executive vice president, told university students in Paris this morning that inaction on the part of the EU was the result of divisions among member states. 

“The genocide in Gaza exposes Europe’s failure to act and speak with one voice,” Ribera said.

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson said that Ribera had “made herself a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda” and accused the Spanish official of “blood libel”.

The EU’s top officials have so far refrained from using the term genocide to describe Israel’s action in Gaza, where its siege, invasion and bombardment has killed more than 64,000 people since October 2023. 

A number of the world’s foremost scholars who study the crime have concluded that genocide is occurring in Gaza and South Africa has accused Israel of the same in a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Despite the mounting death toll and the near total destruction of the territory, the EU has taken no substantial action against Israel. 

Some member states have pushed for the association agreement between the EU and Israel to be suspended, especially since a review found Israel has violated its human rights clauses.

A number of EU countries have opposed sanctioning Israel, including member states with histories of participation or complicity in the Nazi Holocaust, such as Germany, Austria and Italy among others.

In July, the Commission proposed cutting funding to Israeli start-ups but so far the move has not got the backing of a majority of EU countries. 

Some EU countries have taken matters into their own hands. 

Slovenia has banned arms sales to Israel and also moved to prohibit the imports from illegal Israel settlements on Palestinian land, something the Irish government is also currently trying to do through legislation. 

Macron not welcome in Israel

A number of countries recently expressed their intention to recognise the State of Palestine, with Belgium being the most recent to do so. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting later this month, where France intends to recognise Palestine.

A statement said foreign minister Gideon Saar told France’s top diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot in a phone call that “there is no room” for a presidential visit “as long as France persists in its initiative and efforts that harm Israel’s interests”.

France should “reconsider its initiative”, Saar told Barrot, arguing that the move would undermine regional stability and harm “Israel’s national and security interests”.

“Israel strives for good relations with France, but France must respect the Israeli position when it comes to issues essential to its security and future,” Saar said, according to the statement.

Israeli president’s UK visit

Elsewhere on the diplomatic front, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is set to visit the UK next week. 

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Herzog can expect an angry reception from members of the UK public who have been holding regular mass protests over the course of the last 23 months. 

One statement the Israeli president made in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of October 2023 has been quoted by those who accuse his country of committing genocide. 

Herzog said it was “the entire [Palestinian] nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.” 

That statement was included in the ICJ’s issuance of injunctions against Israel in the South Africa case in January last year. The court’s judges found that it was plausible that Israel had committed genocidal acts in Gaza. 

With reporting from AFP

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