On 4th November 2024, EJJP had an online meeting with Michael Mann, Head of Division (MENA.2), EEAS, about Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, its assault on Lebanon and the illegality of the occupation. All of these should have consequences for the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Our letter is of 20 October to Mr. Mann is below
Michael Mann 20 October 2024
Head of Division (MENA.2), EEAS
Dear Mr. Mann,
We are writing to request a Teams meeting with you to discuss the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, its increasingly horrific assault on Gaza, and its assault on Lebanon. These should have consequences for the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The illegality of the occupation
On 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s continued occupation was illegal, confirming what had become increasingly clear over several years. Since the assault on Gaza began, settlement expansion, home demolitions and killing of Palestinians in the West Bank and have all increased massively.
Gaza
We needn’t rehearse the grisly statistics of Palestinian deaths, woundings, displacement and starvation in Gaza. They are well known. Nor do we need to discuss the horrific nature of Hamas’ massive attack on Israeli civilians on 7th October.
However, Israel’s response to the Hamas attack has gone well beyond justified action to protect its citizens. From the beginning, the Israeli army has been flouting the principles of proportionality and discrimination central to the protection of civilians in time of war. Authoritative commentators have eventually come to the devastating conclusion that Israel is committing genocide.
Lebanon
As in Gaza, the Israeli army is showing complete disregard for the principles of proportionality and discrimination. It is apparently willing to kill a hundred civilians in order to kill one Hezbollah commander.
It also looks very like this Israeli government is trying to provoke Iran into a war, knowing that the United States will have to support it. The chain of four provocative assassinations leads to that conclusion. That one of the assassinations was of Ismail Haniyah, leader of the political wing of Hamas who was negotiating for a ceasefire, speaks volumes about the Israeli Government’s motives.
Prime Minister Netanyahu claims Israel is defending itself against existential threat, but the reality is that Israel’s 57-year long occupation of Palestinian land has caused the Palestinians to resist and Hezbollah and Iran to support them. The threat is not to Israel’s existence, only to its freedom to continue permanently denying Palestinians their right to self-determination, and eventually to create Greater Israel at their expense. The history of attacks against Israeli civilians is terrorism, but that is an inevitable part of the resistance, and is more than matched by Israel’s genocidal war of revenge in Gaza and its previous assaults on Gaza..
A bombing and missile war war between Israel, supported by the United Sates, and Iran, supported by Russia, would be devastating to both countries. The threat of a nuclear strike by Israel if it was taking heavy losses would be ever-present. The questions would then be: how would Russia respond, and then how would the United States respond to that?
We are in a dangerous moment. The European Union should use all its influence, publicly and privately, to stop the escalation now. It should do two things:
First, it should advise its member states to ban export of all military equipment to Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. It is widely acknowledged that the continued failure of Gaza ceasefire talks is due to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the neo-fascist elements in his government.
Second, it should suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Article 2 of the Agreement states: “Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement”. The ICJ ruling makes it crystal clear that Israel has not been complying with Article 2 for many years. The assaults on Gaza and Lebanon make it even more obvious. Moreover, they now threaten to engulf the Middle East in a wider war, and to spark a nuclear confrontation between the USA and Russia.
We hope to hear from you shortly to arrange a Teams meeting.
Yours sincerely,
Dror Feiler, Chair of EJJP, Judar for Israelisk-Palestinsk Fred (Stockholm).
Arthur Goodman, Executive member EJJP, Diplomatic and Parliamentary Officer, Jews for Justice for Palestinians (London)
cc. Dr. Josep Borrell
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy