{"id":336048,"date":"2025-08-11T15:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T15:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/336048\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T15:29:11","slug":"more-than-100-former-meps-urge-eu-to-suspend-association-agreement-with-israel-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/336048\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 100 former MEPs urge EU to suspend association agreement with Israel \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ongoing starvation of the civilian population in Gaza<\/a> amounts to \u201cnothing short of a war crime\u201d, a group of more than 100 former members of the European Parliament<\/a> have said. <\/p>\n

Tentative moves by the European Commission<\/a> to sanction Israel<\/a> for its conduct during its invasion of Gaza<\/a> are \u201ctoo little, too late\u201d, the former MEPs stated. <\/p>\n

In an open letter criticising the EU\u2019s response to the war in Gaza, the large group of former politicians said concrete action needed to be taken by the EU executive arm led by Ursula von der Leyen<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The letter was signed by Josep Borrell, a former Spanish MEP who was the EU\u2019s top foreign affairs envoy until late last year. His efforts to sanction Israel in that role were blocked. <\/p>\n

In total 110 former MEPs from Spain, Ireland, France, the UK and several other countries added their names to the joint letter. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Al Jazeera rejects claims journalist killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza led Hamas cellOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The group called for the EU to suspend an association agreement that governs the bloc\u2019s relations with Israel, which includes a free-trade deal. <\/p>\n

The commission recently proposed suspending part of the agreement that allows to Israel access Horizon research funding. The decision needs the support of a weighted majority of the EU\u2019s 27 states, with two of Israel\u2019s backers, Germany and Italy, holding up the suspension. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Germany divided over plan to limit weapons for IsraelOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The open letter was organised by a former UK MEP, Glyn Ford of the Labour Party. Several former Irish MEPs added their names to the letter, including Emer Costello, Brian Crowley, Proinsias De Rossa and Pat the Cope Gallagher. Former Independent MEP and current Minister of State Marian Harkin is also among the signatories. <\/p>\n

A failure by EU states to agree to take action against Israel would expose their \u201ccomplicity\u201d in its war crimes in Gaza, the letter stated. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why has Gazans\u2019 hunger attained the status of \u2018moral crisis\u2019 when Israel\u2019s genocidal slaughter did not?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s restriction of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza over recent weeks and months has heightened pressure on the country, as aid agencies continue to warn of spreading famine in the war-torn strip. <\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s plan to further expand military operations in Gaza has drawn more international condemnation. <\/p>\n

EU foreign ministers were to discuss the situation in Gaza during a video call on Monday, mostly focusing on upcoming talks on the Ukraine war between United States president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. <\/p>\n

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel\u2019s aerial bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, which has destroyed much of the Palestinian territory\u2019s buildings and infracture.<\/p>\n

The Israeli invasion followed attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, during which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ongoing starvation of the civilian population in Gaza amounts to \u201cnothing short of a war crime\u201d, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,2557,1699,10982,837,20418,1220],"class_list":{"0":"post-336048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-commission","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-gaza-strip","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","16":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115010850569244571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}