A historical opinion by the European Commission\u2019s then top lawyer, obtained by EUobserver, said the bloc was legally entitled to suspend cooperation with Israel, such as its \u2018Horizon Europe\u2019 science grants and \u2018Erasmus\u2019 student-exchange scheme, already in 2017 due to Israel\u2019s violations of international law in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
It was even entitled to freeze the whole EU\u2013Israel Association Agreement<\/a>, which governs their duty-free trade, the memo added.<\/p>\n It showed the EU was fully aware of Israeli abuses, that they were getting worse, that dialogue with Israel was ineffective, and that Palestinians had no legal redress. <\/p>\n The EU legal opinion also said that UN Security Council resolution 2334<\/a> in 2016 had explicitly called for UN members to take measures to prevent acts of destruction in the West Bank. <\/p>\n A total or partial suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement \u201cwould comply with customary international law\u201d, the memo said. <\/p>\n The seven-page document, dated 5 October 2017, was signed by Luis Romero Requena, the then director general of the commission\u2019s legal service and marked \u201cstrictly confidential\u201d.<\/p>\n Romero Requena retired in the meantime, but the law has not changed, while Israeli violations have spiralled off the charts.<\/p>\n In Gaza, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said in 2024 that Israel was at serious risk of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d<\/a>, which meant the EU had a \u201cduty to prevent\u201d this, under the UN Genocide Convention of 1948, which all 27 member states have signed up to.<\/p>\n