'Shame!': Germany, Italy Block Effort to Suspend EU-Israel Trade Pact Over Gaza Genocide, West Bank Attacks

Calls have steadily intensified in recent weeks for the European Union to suspend a trade agreement with Israel as the country's right-wing government has ignored growing condemnation over its anti-Palestinian policies and its assaults on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon—but on Tuesday, German and Italian officials blocked an effort to pause the trade deal, with Germany's foreign minister saying the move would be "inappropriate."

The foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, suggested that world governments have not yet appealed enough to Israel in an attempt to stop it from attacking civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Gaza; backing settlers who wage violence on Palestinians as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government seeks to illegally annex the territory; and passing a death penalty law that makes death by hanging the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

“We have to talk with Israel about the critical issues,” Wadephul said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, which was called by his counterparts from Ireland, Slovenia, and Spain. “That has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added that "no decision will be taken today" and said that "other possible initiatives will be discussed at the next ministerial meeting on May 11."

Critics, however, blasted the decision.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, a senior director for Amnesty International, called the move by Italy and Germany "a moral failure" that "illustrates brazen contempt for civilian lives" in Gaza, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and in Lebanon.

Failure to act in the face of Israel's repeated and ongoing atrocities, said Guevara-Rosas, "will be remembered as another shameful chapter in one of the most disgraceful moments in the EU’s history."

The Irish, Spanish, and Slovenian officials wrote to EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas last week, saying that Israel has breached Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which stipulates that "relations between the parties, as well as all the provisions of the agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles."

A European Commission review last year found "indications" that Israel is breaching its human rights obligations under the 1995 agreement.

The death penalty law, said the foreign ministers, is a "grave violation of fundamental human rights," while settlers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers act "with absolute impunity" in the West Bank.

“The European Union can no longer remain on the sidelines,” they said.

Ahead of Tuesday's meeting in Luxembourg, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called on every European country "to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defense of international law" and that failing to do so regarding Israel "would be a defeat for the European Union."

Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee called on the EU to "move in unison" to pressure Israel to meet its human rights obligations. Suspending the trade agreement requires unanimous support from the bloc's 27 member countries.

McEntee said that she was urging "all of our colleagues today to support our call for the suspension of the overall agreement but, at the very least, if we can't reach that full agreement, that we would have suspension of the overall trade elements of it."

But Germany and Italy's refusal to back the suspension of the agreement, said Irish author Andrew Madden, suggested "a preference for the ongoing slaughter of innocent people" over angering Israel.