{"id":497233,"date":"2025-10-13T22:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/497233\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T22:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:30:33","slug":"perception-of-eu-as-bystander-in-gaza-war-has-badly-damaged-its-reputation-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/497233\/","title":{"rendered":"Perception of EU as bystander in Gaza war has badly damaged its reputation \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Union<\/a> (EU) is Israel\u2019s most valuable trading partner and the biggest financial donor to the Palestinian Authority<\/a>. So why has it appeared to be little more than a bystander during two years of war in Gaza<\/a>? <\/p>\n

Despite having leverage in the region through those economic ties and financial contributions, the EU failed to restrain Israel\u2019s destruction of Gaza and exert real pressure to end the fighting. <\/p>\n

It was US president Donald Trump<\/a> who forced the current ceasefire deal<\/a> between Israel and Hamas militants in the besieged Palestinian enclave. <\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s hands remained tied by internal divisions, even as famine spread through Gaza and the numbers of Palestinians killed by Israel\u2019s military campaign exceeded 67,000.<\/p>\n

When political leaders and diplomats from the EU\u2019s 27 states discussed the conflict, everyone agreed the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians civilians in Gaza was unacceptable, Israeli hostages held by Hamas should be released and the fighting needed to stop. <\/p>\n

There the agreement often ended. Germany and Italy, plus Hungary, Austria, and Czechia have had Israel\u2019s back during the conflict. Those countries argued for the EU to flag its concerns with Israel through normal diplomatic channels and opposed penalising Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s<\/a> government. <\/p>\n

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Belgium were at the front of the pack pushing for the EU to sanction Israel, at a minimum to get humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza. That second camp has almost come to reflect the position of a majority inside the EU. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gaza ceasefire deal: What happens next with Israel and will Hamas disarm?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople gather to welcome Palestinians released from Israeli prisons, under a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal, outside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa\/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Israel has certainly been conscious of the momentum building in Brussels in support of concrete action. <\/p>\n

The increasing pressure to do something saw European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> last month propose suspending an EU-Israel free trade deal. <\/p>\n

Pro-Palestine campaigners and human rights groups criticised the EU\u2019s executive body for taking so long to come to that point. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump hails \u2018historic dawn of a new Middle East\u2019 in Knesset addressOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"GazaGaza hostage Segev Kalfon arrives at a medical centre in Ramat Gan, Israel, following the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. Photograph: Alexi J. Rosenfeld\/ Getty Images <\/p>\n

The trade sanction would still need the backing of either Germany or Italy to secure a big enough majority to pass. <\/p>\n

It is understood German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni didn\u2019t give any indication about their thinking when EU leaders met for a recent summit in Copenhagen. The proposed suspension of tariff-free trade remains on the table but has been overtaken by new developments. <\/p>\n

All the focus has shifted to making sure the tentative truce holds. A previous ceasefire agreed at the start of this year fell apart when Israel resumed its bombing of Gaza. <\/p>\n

The new deal means \u201cpeace becomes possible for Israel, for Gaza and the region,\u201d French president Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. <\/p>\n

Ant\u00f3nio Costa, who chairs the summits of EU leaders, described it as \u201can important step on the path to peace\u201d. The EU would use \u201call the tools at its disposal\u201d to help the ceasefire plan stick, the former Portuguese prime minister said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ceasefire holds in Gaza in advance of hostage release and Donald Trump\u2019s visit to IsraelOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The agreement between Hamas and Israel means \u201ca page can be turned,\u201d von der Leyen said. \u201cEurope fully supports the peace plan brokered by the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey,\u201d the commission president added. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff separately praised the \u201cvital role\u201d played by the UK in helping to get the peace deal done. <\/p>\n

Kaja Kallas, the EU\u2019s most senior representative on foreign affairs, said the deal was a \u201crare moment of hope in the Middle East\u201d, but maintaining the truce would be \u201cextraordinarily complex\u201d. <\/p>\n

Should the deal really mark the beginning of the end of the Gaza war, the EU will struggle to shake off the charge that it failed to use its leverage when it counted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union (EU) is Israel\u2019s most valuable trading partner and the biggest financial donor to the Palestinian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[33784,32,2000,299,5187,1699,10982,837,20418,16,1220,978],"class_list":{"0":"post-497233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-gaza-strip","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115369229396763058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497233","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=497233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}