My Take | European Union has finally shed crocodile tears for Palestinians
Rounds of Western criticism are little more than a slap on the wrist for Israel when the latter’s genocidal intent in Gaza can no longer be ignored
You know the situation in Gaza has become utterly indefensible when even Germany, Israel’s staunchest supporter after the United States, now voices a rare rebuke and threatens to restrict weapons supplies.
The country’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he felt compelled to speak out because “international humanitarian law is really being violated” in Gaza.
“What the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand, frankly, what its objective is,” he said during a visit to Finland. “To cause such suffering to the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism.”
Well, at least Merz said a few words about unimaginable Palestinian sufferings, unlike his predecessor. Israel has renewed its assault on the civilian population to gain control over the entire Gaza Strip.
The German criticism came after the European Union said it would “review” the EU-Israel Association Agreement, after a clear majority of member states voted in support of a Dutch proposal to do so.
The plan to “re-examine” the trade deal has no deadline but will look into whether Israel has committed serious human rights violations in occupied Palestine, which, under Article 2 of the agreement, allows Brussels to suspend cooperation. Interestingly, Germany was among eight other EU states that voted against it.
Meanwhile, Canada, France and Britain jointly issued a rare rebuke of Israel’s latest military incursion, which violated a previous ceasefire with Hamas.