"Ceasefire or Not, EU Should Keep Pressure on Israel to End Abuses"

As European Union leaders and foreign ministers prepare for meetings to discuss the situation in Israel and Palestine, some of their representatives in Brussels, and Israel’s new ambassador to the EU, have been pushing for the European Commission to amend or withdraw its proposals to sanction “extremist” Israeli ministers and suspend the EU-Israel trade deal. Caving to that pressure would be yet another blow to the EU’s credibility and to hopes for human rights and justice. [...]

EU states have also yet to approve suspending the trade pillar of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, despite finding Israel in breach of article 2 of the deal, which identifies “respect for human rights and democratic principles” as an essential element. The fragile ceasefire in Gaza is no reason to drop consideration of the measure. The EU’s own review, focused on the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, references damning UN reports and a landmark July 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s occupation to be unlawful and marred by serious abuses, including apartheid. Ceasefire or not, those egregious abuses persist and are incompatible with the agreement’s human rights clause.

Targeted sanctions and the deal’s suspension are also included in the annex to the September 2025 New York Declaration on the implementation of a “two-state solution,” spearheaded by France and Saudi Arabia. While most EU states backed the UN resolution endorsing the declaration and several recognized a Palestinian state, few have acted on those commitments. Notably, the EU continues to trade with Israeli settlements, despite referring to them as illegal and “an obstacle to a two-state solution” and in breach of clear obligations laid out by the ICJ.

Rather than easing pressure now, the EU should act on its own findings, uphold international law, and end the impunity that fuels Israel’s past and ongoing crimes.