A leaked report from the European Union makes several accusations against Israel, which both the international Jewish organization B’nai B’rith and the Israeli government reject.
Last week, the European External Action Service distributed its conclusions to EU member states on the situation in Gaza, finding that Israel had violated human rights and international law.
Some countries were outraged that Brussels did not suspend a trade deal with Israel. Ireland and Spain wanted the deal stopped outright, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling the events in Gaza a “catastrophic situation of genocide,” reported DW.
The portal noted that no such deal-blocker is bound to succeed given the need for unanimity, with Greece, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Czechia, and Bulgaria all close allies of Israel. Belgium, France and Sweden have all seemed willing to up the pressure on Netanyahu via sanctions, but all 27 member states must also vote unanimously on this as well.
The Israeli government protested the report via official channels, especially for failing to mention the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas and Iran’s support for the terror group.
The CEO of B’nai B’rith International called the report biased.
“In its one-sided account of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the report entirely omits Hamas persecution of Palestinian civilians, including violent beatings and executions of perceived opponents, large-scale theft of humanitarian aid and the use of Palestinian civilian infrastructure as human shields,” he said.
The report was originally meant to be a confidential EU report for internal use only but was leaked over a week ago. A total of 19 of the EU’s 27 member states, commissioned the report and is primarily based on data from the UN.
The document relies heavily on the UN, which the Jewish organization took issue with.
“The report bases its findings on UN reports and allegations that are backed by the same organization whose aid agency, UNRWA, participated in the massacre on October 7th,” wrote B’nai B’rith.
As noted by JNS, some EU member states are adamant that Israel face the consequences for violating the human rights commitments in Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Kaja Kallas, the European Commission’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said: “Our primary goal is to change the situation,” promising action in July if Israel fails to change course in Gaza.
However, B’nai B’rith says Israel cannot stop hurting civilians if Hamas insists on putting them in harm’s way.
“Hamas has used Palestinian civilians as human shields in a deliberate attempt to maximize the number of civilian casualties, actually hiding terrorists under occupied hospital beds, to cite just one example,” they wrote.
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