Middle East Press On: Israel, Egypt, USAID, Palestine, EU, Ethical: New Age Islam's Selection, 27 May 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
27 May 2025
Israel’s 'Friends' Have Had Enough With Its Irresponsible Government
Israel Facing Dangerous Shift In Relations With Egypt
Why USAID Matters For Israel’s Future And America’s Moral Leadership
No Quick Way Back For UK-Israel Relations
Washington Attack Was Wrong And Does Not Help Palestine
UK In Long Overdue Change Of Tune On Gaza
EU Must Make The Ethical Choice On Gaza
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Israel’s 'Friends' Have Had Enough With Its Irresponsible Government
By Mick Davis
MAY 27, 2025
It is not Israel’s enemies around the world who are perplexed by the behaviour of its current government. In fact, they have no better asset. Rather, it is Israel’s friends – allies who rallied in solidarity when it was forced to take military action against Hamas after the barbaric outrage of October 7, and expended political capital in doing so – who are not only perplexed, but have had enough.
Britain, France, and Canada made clear last week they could no longer countenance the human cost of interminable war, with no tangible vision for how it ends.
There is seemingly no strategy, certainly not one that could justify further death and destruction on the scale seen in Gaza, or the inevitable further loss of Israeli soldiers.
Denying humanitarian aid and then grudgingly opening the tap, merely to avoid accusations of creating famine, is a further disgrace, notwithstanding valid concerns about Hamas hijacking aid.
If backing such a policy is what is required to be pro-Israel, we are asking too much.
Even US President Donald Trump, who would be hard to label a member of the “leftist deep state,” has become impatient, bypassing the Netanyahu government to negotiate the release of Edan Alexander, noting his concern about the plight of the people of Gaza and snubbing Israel on a recent visit to the region.
Majority of Israelis support ceasefire
Poll after poll shows the majority of Israelis, around 70%, would support a deal that brings all the hostages home and ends the fighting. A case could be made that Israel’s critical allies are more aligned with the wishes of the Israeli people than their own government.
While I have not seen a convincing justification for renewing hostilities in Gaza while the terms of a ceasefire were in place, there is also no strategy thereafter, other than that of reoccupation articulated by some members of the government. You can’t extinguish an extremist ideology without removing the oxygen that feeds it. This renewed and expanded war and, heaven forbid, reoccupation does the opposite.
It is shameful – a hillul Hashem – that the liberation of all the hostages, living and dead, is not the top priority of this government. Last week a Likud MK denigrated returned hostages, many of whom oppose the expansion of the war, as “brainwashed by Hamas.” It might be nauseating to give such comments attention, but we need to grasp the contempt that some in the ruling coalition have for their own people.
The people can hold their leaders to account at the ballot box in due course. In the meantime, avoiding accountability seems to be among this government’s highest priorities. It is more energized by defeating its perceived domestic enemies than by strengthening the international alliances necessary to keep Israel’s external foes at bay. Given a choice between nurturing international support and penalizing domestic opposition, it chooses the latter.
New bill will cripple organizations and civil society
Hence the legislation brought before the Knesset earlier this month to put an astonishing 80% tax on all donations received by Israeli NGOs from foreign states unless those NGOs receive support from the Israeli state. The bill would also permit the finance minister, currently Bezalel Smotrich, to allow NGOs to avoid the tax at his discretion. The new bill will, deliberately, cripple almost 100 organizations that form the backbone of Israel’s civil society.
It is an insult to the democratic states that provide funding for them. Their donations will dry up, and many of the most marginalized and vulnerable in Israel – whether Jews, Arabs, or other at-risk communities such as asylum-seekers – will suffer as a result.
Meanwhile, as the government pursues policies that flout the wishes of the majority of Israelis, the bill will devastate organizations that scrutinize its conduct. Some NGO activities are inconvenient for the current and indeed any government, and even uncomfortable for us as lovers of Israel – there are times when I have been opposed to some initiatives. But the discomfort of scrutiny is a prerequisite for democracy.
The bill is also an insult to Jewish philanthropists around the world. Many of the organizations targeted were established with Diaspora funding. That is one reason I, along with other Zionist philanthropists, have written to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, urging him to consider the damage it would do to Israel’s relationships with democratic allies, to its partnerships with world Jewry, and to its reputation as a liberal democracy. It is far more akin to the policies of authoritarian regimes seeking to stifle democratic movements than those of a democratic state that upholds values of freedom, pluralism, and tolerance for dissent.
Crippling Israel’s civil society, which we recall stepped in to fill the vacuum when the government was found wanting in the chaos following October 7, will not by any rational measure make Israel safer or more secure. It will merely remove an obstacle to those in this government who wish to reoccupy Gaza, annex the West Bank, advance the constitutional assault launched in 2023, and make obsolete the foundational Zionist concept of a state that is both Jewish and democratic.
Israel is hemorrhaging support at a time it needs it most. The international coalition that last year helped blunt Iran’s missile bombardment showed that Israel’s alliances are as important as ever. Israel should, rightly, expect support from allies as it faces down external threats. It should think twice about impeding the support of those same allies for Israeli NGOs just because they are inconvenient for this government.
Political power in liberal democracies is temporary. If and when those passing this bill find themselves in opposition, the legislation they introduce now could in the future be used to penalize their preferred organizations and projects. Autocratic legislation can only lead to autocratic outcomes, whoever is in power.
There is no more righteous cause than the self-determination of the Jewish people in its own land. But the values laid out in Israel’s Declaration of Independence of a democratic, law-based state, fairness across society, and the pursuit of secure peace are being assaulted daily from within. Israel’s NGOs play a crucial role in upholding and strengthening those values. They are part of the fabric of the Jewish people.
This bill is not only an attack on NGOs but on the democratic foundations of Israel. It antagonizes allies. It alienates Diaspora Jews. It is undemocratic, and it should be scrapped.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-855514
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Israel Facing Dangerous Shift In Relations With Egypt
By Brigadier General Yitzhak Brik
MAY 27, 2025
Israeli officials are concerned that Egypt is pulling away from its peace agreement with Israel and aligning with countries hostile to Jerusalem.
As per the peace treaty, Egypt can have one mechanized division and a tank brigade in the Sinai Peninsula, totalling 47 battalions and 300 tanks.
However, Egypt now has approximately 180 battalions in Sinai — nearly four times the treaty’s limit. Meanwhile, the IDF has gotten rid of six combat divisions, thousands of tanks, half of its artillery brigades, numerous infantry and engineering units, intelligence-gathering battalions, and thousands of career soldiers.
In addition, the shortening of mandatory service for men has significantly reduced the number of active-duty combat troops.
As a result, the IDF is no longer capable of deploying sufficient forces to the Egyptian border in times of routine or emergency.
Troops are also deployed far beyond the 60-kilometer limit from the Suez Canal agreed upon in the treaty, with large forces stationed deep in Sinai, including El-Arish and areas near Rafah.
Additionally, satellite images and Egyptian propaganda videos suggest that Cairo could be preparing chemical and biological weapons for use against Israel.
Many had hoped that with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir's recent appointment, the military would rethink its strategy so that Israel could confidently defend all its borders — from Syria and Turkey in the north, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed terror along the Jordanian border, Egypt and Gaza in the South, and the West Bank.
Egypt's army has also grown by nearly 30%, defense sources estimate.
Relations between Jerusalem and Cairo had deteriorated as a result of the Gaza war after Hamas's October 7 attacks. Egypt recently declined to appoint an ambassador to Israel. In response, Israel has suspended plans to send its own ambassador to Cairo.
Is Cairo distancing itself from Camp David?
While Egypt has not formally renounced the Camp David Accords, Cairo is effectively distancing itself from the treaty.
The IDF is woefully unprepared to confront that possibility should Cairo pivot to open hostilities.
A major part of the threat lies in Israel’s poor intelligence coverage of developments in Egypt, with most of Israel’s top intelligence officers focused elsewhere, leaving Egypt and Sinai largely unmonitored.
There must be an immediate appointment of a dedicated intelligence officer to the Chief of Staff—a permanent IDF intelligence liaison who can maintain daily contact and provide critical, real-time updates on enemy forces and threats, as then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi's leadership has focused narrowly on Hamas.
Failure to recognize and respond to Egypt’s military trajectory puts all Israelis at risk.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-855561
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Why USAID Matters For Israel’s Future And America’s Moral Leadership
By Maisam Jaljuli, Merav Boaz
MAY 27, 2025
For over 75 years, USAID has stood as America’s moral and strategic outpost – providing humanitarian relief, economic support, and social development to communities around the world. Its goal is simple yet profound: to heal where there is suffering, to minimize conflict, to ensure basic human dignity, and to build bridges between peoples. When forced to choose between war and windows of cooperation, USAID offered the latter – investing in hope, stability, and shared prosperity.
As a USAID MEPPA grantee, Tsofen-Tashbik was privileged to embody this mission. For 16 years, our Arab-Jewish partnership organization has integrated Israel’s Arab citizens – and Palestinians from the West Bank – into the country’s booming hi-tech sector.
In contrast to our previous USAID grants, our latest was cross-border, meaning that, for the first time, we dared to cross both literal and psychological borders, bringing together young engineers from three communities – Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, and West Bank Palestinians – around the shared language of innovation.
What Tsofen-Tashbik has accomplished
In practical terms, since 2008, we have:
Placed one-third of all Arab engineers in Israel’s hi-tech firms.
Trained and mentored thousands through advanced tech boot camps, leadership workshops, and internship placements.
Engaged 10,000 Arab students in academic hi-tech programs across Israel, preparing them for a job market that so often raises barriers they cannot clear alone.
Much of this was made possible by reliable USAID funding – funding that was abruptly halted by a presidential executive order in January 2025 and summarily canceled the following month. In a single stroke, along with 80% of all USAID grantees, our grant vanished. A “cold turkey” cut with no transition plan, no safety net, and no regard for the real people who rely on these programs – our trainees, our staff, our partner companies. An entire ecosystem has been severely disrupted.
President Donald Trump argued that these cuts would “streamline” foreign aid and protect American interests. But we must ask: What truly serves US security and prosperity? When USAID programs succeed in building livelihoods, reducing poverty, and bridging ethnic or national divides, they create stability where armies cannot – saving American lives and taxpayer dollars in the process.
The alternative to USAID program achievements
Consider the alternative: Without conflict resolution and development aid, tensions escalate. Armed interventions become the default, and America is drawn further into wars, at tremendous human and financial cost. History is replete with painful examples that demonstrate this. In Ukraine, in the Middle East, we see how the absence of preventive aid forces US troops into harm’s way and burdens the national budget with trillions spent on conflict rather than constructive growth.
Here in Israel, the cancellation of USAID funding has pushed Tsofen-Tashbik and similar organizations into a deep financial crisis. We have cut staff and are scaling back programs, just as the war in Gaza throws Israel’s economy into recession.
The very engineers we train – thousands of Arab graduates eager to fuel recovery and innovation – face a bleak future. The hi-tech sector, once Israel’s engine of growth, will lack the talent it needs to rebound.
Yet, these are exactly the resources Israel – and by extension, America – cannot afford to lose. Arab citizens represent over 20% of Israel’s population and constitute the largest untapped pool of qualified hi-tech talent. Their full inclusion could add billions of dollars annually to Israel’s GDP and strengthen the social fabric on both sides of the Green Line.
That is the promise of global aid when it works: It nurtures local solutions that ripple outward. It transforms potential adversaries into collaborators. It strengthens democracies by lifting people out of despair and into productive roles. It is both values-driven and an investment – an insurance policy against the costliest crises.
To our American friends, we urge you to remember that behind every budget line are human lives. When we cut aid “cold turkey,” we freeze real people out of opportunity and force the US into deeper, costlier entanglements. America’s true national interest lies in backing programs that build bridges, not walls; that foster jobs, not just armies; that create partnerships, not only deployments.
To the American administration, I say: If you don’t like USAID programs, create your own, but preserve the global human values at their heart, which you share. You decide what to fund and how to allocate resources, but don’t give up the opportunity to affect lives around the world and the lives of your own citizens, for all our lives on this planet are intertwined.
We call on your representatives in Congress and the White House to restore – and even expand – US funding for programs that build bridges, reduce conflict, and forge cohesive communities around shared interests, like ours. Give us the resources to train the next generation of engineers, to bridge divides through code, creativity, and innovation, and to prove that the best path to lasting peace is by building a shared future.
The alternative – abandoning hope, ignoring opportunities, and reopening old wounds – is a cost America cannot afford. And it is a moral and economic compromise we must never make.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-855455
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No Quick Way Back For UK-Israel Relations
Alistair Burt
May 25, 2025
In 40 years of being a close observer of, and participant in, UK-Israel relations, in fair weather and foul, I had never heard the strength of official criticism of the Israeli government with which Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke last week. Describing Israel’s blockade of Gaza as “indefensible and cruel,” and “intolerable,” while also ending trade talks with Israel and summoning its ambassador to the Foreign Office, the UK’s language and actions marked a turning point in the relationship between two allies.
It is important to note what it was not. This is not support for Hamas. This is not a break in the UK’s support for the existence and safety of Israel, proved just a few months ago with the launch of aircraft to help defend the country against Iranian missiles — a mission the UK would perform today if asked.
But it was almost a cry of despair at the actions of a friend now risking much more than it appears to realize worldwide, dragging the UK into a position of complicity which its domestic politics demanded could no longer be acceptable.
The catalysts for this change were clear, and none were connected with wanting terror to win, as senior Israeli politicians claimed. There has been rising UK domestic political unease for months, from all parties in Parliament. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chief Tom Fletcher’s speech to the UN, warning the Security Council of its responsibilities in stark terms on May 13; the media coverage of UK medical staff in Gaza and their testimony of the conditions of patients and hospitals under attack; and the pictures of obviously starving children — all counted in the minds of ministers.
But perhaps more than anything else has been the announcements by Israel of action that seemed to suggest no end to the existing catastrophe, but promised more and worse to come, from the recommencement of even more severe ground operations, and an Israeli minister’s boast that Gaza would be “cleansed” and its population displaced — described as “extremist” by the UK foreign secretary. For the UK, and importantly France and Canada — also strong and not fair-weather friends of Israel — “enough” was the one-word description.
The Israeli reaction was, I suspect, anticipated, debated in the Foreign Office, and accepted as an inevitable price. The Israeli government is extremely sensitive to any criticism, and could have been expected to denounce what the UK had said and done with a dig at history and the British Mandate and little acknowledgement of continuing and not insignificant UK support.
But, of course, what could not have been predicted was the outrageous murder of two young Israeli officials in Washington, a cruel coincidence of fate, which would conflate issues better kept separate. A hurt and stung Israel has said harsh things in its grief. It is highly unlikely that the foreign policy positions of the UK, France, and Canada will have influenced the murderer in whatever motives he might twistedly have possessed, but none of us know. It would be best in my view for the reaction to such remarks to end quickly, respecting the pain of the families involved. Increased bitterness surrounding them adds nothing to the resolution of issues.
It is to that resolution that the UK, and the world, should now turn its attention. There is no going back on what the UK prime minister and foreign secretary have said and what they believe. Israel’s declared way forward will not succeed in giving it security or the return of hostages, which may now be incidental to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, but not to the UK, to families involved or to millions of Israelis. The refusal to negotiate peace by all those on both sides with an interest only in the war continuing will condemn thousands to die now, and if extremist voices are heard, condemn future generations to slaughter. And, as Washington showed, do not expect this to be confined to the region. The UK should now be demanding that “enough” is the cry of all.
The taboo in the West of governments seriously criticizing an Israeli government has gone, not because these governments are antisemitic, but precisely because they are not. They are rightly, and about time, demonstrating that you can call out the actions of a government when you think it is wrong without denying its right to exist, in the same way that you can support the right of a people to a state, without endorsing terror.
The forthcoming Saudi-French international conference has to tackle more taboos. It must not be a declaratory affair, but one that addresses the questions ducked for too long. How will Arab states that want a relationship with Israel, and a Palestinian state, practically address Israel’s security, as suggested at the UN General Assembly back in September? Who will make Israel realize that its security based on denying a Palestinian state has been illusory? Who will ensure that in return for statehood, neither Hamas nor any other ideological force denying Israel’s existence will ever have power or authority? What concrete steps will be set out to end violence and terror on the West Bank?
Israel’s best friends have taken a risk. For the sake of those dying now, and doomed to die in the future, we are running out of time for other friends to talk truth to all protagonists.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602134
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Washington Attack Was Wrong And Does Not Help Palestine
Daoud Kuttab
May 26, 2025
The chant “Free Palestine” is powerful and appropriate at protests across the US and around the world. But it is wholly inappropriate when shouted following a violent, fatal attack in the American capital. Such an attack must be unequivocally condemned. Palestinians, even as they endure unimaginable suffering in Gaza, must find the moral clarity and courage to reject violence of this kind.
It does not matter that the victims were Israeli diplomats, nor that one of them had tweeted a provocative message suggesting that Israel should assassinate a Yemeni leader. The Palestinian cause demands international pressure and Israeli accountability, not violence in a city thousands of miles away from the conflict.
Palestinians seek an end to Israel’s war, siege and occupation of Palestinian territories. Targets outside the region are not, and must never be, part of the Palestinian struggle. The demand to stop genocide and war crimes — crimes prohibited under international law — must be pursued in the proper arena: The Hague.
Indeed, the Israeli government has deliberately weaponized starvation against Palestinians in Gaza. This crisis must be urgently addressed. But just as Western leaders were beginning to shift toward sanctions and other measures against Israeli violations, this reprehensible attack on two Israeli diplomats has served only to deflect attention — and relieve pressure on Israel.
The condemnation of this act must be unequivocal. At the same time, we must reject Israel’s attempt to frame it as an act against Jews or as part of a global antisemitic campaign. While invoking “Free Palestine” in this context is wholly inappropriate, support for Palestinian rights is not inherently antisemitic. Israel is a state whose citizens include Jews, Muslims, Christians and others. Zionism itself is not exclusive to Jews; it also includes some Christians. To conflate criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism is both dishonest and dangerous.
Leaders in Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere should not allow this act to deter them from their recent calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inflammatory response — blaming international opposition to Israel’s policies for inciting violence in Washington — is unacceptable.
Netanyahu, currently facing multiple criminal charges for corruption and abuse of power, is prolonging this war to preserve his political survival. By calling international criticism antisemitic, he attempts to silence dissent and bully world leaders into complicity. There should be no prohibition of justified criticism of Israeli policies.
Despite their legal obligations under international law, most Western leaders have yet to act meaningfully. Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions requires signatories to “respect and to ensure respect” for the conventions in all circumstances. That includes taking concrete steps to prevent violations — steps that go beyond words. While recent statements from Western leaders are welcome, they remain insufficient if not followed up by action. This is precisely why the Netanyahu government wants to shut them down — and why he is exploiting the Washington attack to do so.
Because of the publicity surrounding this case, the world now knows the names of the two Israeli diplomats attacked in Washington — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. But how many people know the names of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza?
According to UNICEF, after nearly 18 months of war, more than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed, about 34,000 injured and nearly 1 million repeatedly displaced and denied access to basic services. Thanks to the courageous student protesters at Columbia University, one name has broken through the silence: Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza. Six of her family members and two paramedics trying to save her were also killed.
The UN estimates that more than 28,000 women and girls have also been killed. On International Women’s Day, Jordan’s Radio Al-Balad — the station I am involved with — read the names of some of these women on air. Politicians, celebrities and even a princess participated in the campaign, titled “We Are Not Numbers.”
This war must end immediately. According to multiple media reports, Hamas has expressed a willingness to release all Israeli hostages if the Netanyahu government agrees to end the war. The group has also reportedly offered to relinquish control of Gaza to a transitional Palestinian committee ahead of elections for a new unified Palestinian government.
Any lasting resolution must address the root of the conflict: Israel’s ongoing occupation of the territories it captured in 1967. Palestinians must be allowed their fundamental right to self-determination. Peace will only come through the implementation of long-standing international resolutions, including the creation of a sovereign and democratic Palestinian state alongside Israel and a just solution for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be resolved in the Middle East, with the support of the international community. Justice — and peace — will only come when the underlying injustices are addressed. What is needed now is persistent, principled pressure from the global community, including peace-loving Israelis.
A violent attack against diplomats in Washington is not the way to free Palestine.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602225
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UK In Long Overdue Change Of Tune On Gaza
Chris Doyle
May 26, 2025
For the first time in 19 months of genocide in Gaza, a senior British minister, David Lammy, last week channeled some of the anger felt by much of the public at Israeli actions. After 77 days of Israel blockading Gaza, denying water, food, medicine, fuel and all aid to 2.3 million Palestinians under occupation, the British foreign secretary finally spoke out and started to take some action. This followed a tougher joint statement by the UK, France and Canada the day before.
Lammy announced a series of small actions. London is suspending all talks on a future free trade agreement with Israel, even though this was stalled anyhow. The Israeli ambassador was formally summoned to the Foreign Office. And a further three Israeli settlers, two illegal settler outposts and two settler groups were sanctioned.
Lammy’s skills as a thespian are unlikely to put him in the running for an Oscar. His furious tirade did not seem faked, but rather the outburst of a man who had been waiting to speak his mind, shaken from his torpor, let off the leash by a nervous Downing Street. No minister had previously used words such as “intolerable,” “monstrous,” “appalling” or “egregious” to describe Israeli actions.
Hearing the word “condemn” in regard to Israel’s conduct was a shock, as the “c” world had not been permissible previously. Lammy lambasted Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for speaking of Israeli forces “cleansing” Gaza, of “destroying what’s left” and of resident Palestinians being “relocated to third countries.” “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” he said. Strangely, other genocidal comments from Israeli ministers over the last 19 months did not receive the same treatment.
Back in March, Lammy had been roundly ticked off by No. 10 for daring to suggest that Israel was violating international law. He was forced to backtrack to the nauseating formulation that Israel was “at risk” of violating it. Quite what Israel must do to convince the British government is not clear.
Watching the statement with two Palestinian human rights activists, their understandable questions were: Why has this taken so long? Why only now? Is this shift for real or just to assuage the mounting anger in the Labour Party and in the country as a whole?
Why now? As is so often the case, it was probably a congregation of circumstances, not one magic factor. The noncynical view is that the blockade of Gaza and the deliberate starvation of Palestinian men, women and children over 11 weeks was too much. At a public level, Israel does not have even minimal justification for this policy of starvation as a weapon of war. For those who barely follow this conflict, it is blatantly apparent that this is morally wrong.
Perhaps more importantly, the UK may have been emboldened by an awareness that US President Donald Trump had become irritated with Netanyahu on many fronts, from Iran to Syria and the Houthis to Gaza. Some speculate that Washington may have given a diplomatic wink to the European powers.
On a more cynical level, the UK has just agreed a tariff deal with the US. This takes the pressure off Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Just as importantly, parliamentary opinion was fuming. Senior sources informed me that members of the Cabinet had been raising the need to push for a stronger position. Notably, even backbench Conservative MPs had started speaking out, as well as right-wing commentators in the media, who never normally criticize Israel at all.
Lammy’s words contrasted heavily with those of his opposite number, Priti Patel. She once again failed to criticize the blockade, the starvation and the genocidal comments of Israeli ministers. Since becoming shadow foreign secretary last November, Patel has not once expressed any sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza, even those being starved and bombed, or criticized Israeli conduct in any way, shape or form. Lammy saved his most ferocious comments to tear into her — again, the first time Labour has turned its guns on the lamentable Tory position in 19 months.
Britain has shifted. It may not be a full U-turn, but a sharpish turn at least. Having taken a condemnatory stance, the pressure will be on the government to do more if Israel does not fully lift the blockade and halt its atrocities. The actions are limited thus far, but more are in the pipeline, including the possible sanctioning of extremist Israeli ministers Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. France and the UK are also both considering recognizing a Palestinian state. The European powers will have to stand firmly against the egregious Israeli official pushback — not least from Netanyahu — which blames these critical postures for the awful killing of the two Israeli diplomats in Washington.
The bottom line is that all this is not enough. It is far too late. The genocide continues. All this should have been said and done by the end of October 2023, when Israel was clearly committing war crimes in Gaza and its ministers were promoting genocide. But it is still better than nothing, with the promise of more to come unless Israel stops the mass starvation and ends its genocide.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602211
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EU Must Make The Ethical Choice On Gaza
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib
May 26, 2025
The EU is set to review its association agreement with Israel, a pact that governs its political and economic relations with Tel Aviv. This announcement was made by the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, last Tuesday. The decision was backed by a majority of 17 of the bloc’s 27 member states and was driven by the “catastrophic” situation in Gaza.
Led by Spain and Ireland, several European countries have long been calling for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s disregard for international law. As expected, Israel totally rejected the decision to review the agreement. If the review leads to a suspension or blocking of the agreement, it will have dire consequences for Israel.
In February of last year, the prime ministers of Spain and Ireland reached out to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, urging her to review Israel’s compliance with the human rights provision of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Of course, their request fell on deaf ears. However, as famine is now looming, more countries joined the call to review the agreement. The Netherlands renewed the call and issued a similar request to Spain and Ireland’s. Its initiative received support from Finland, Portugal, Sweden and France.
Revoking the trade agreement would mean Israel would lose its perks with the EU. While the world is amazed by the Israeli economic miracle, it is important to note that Tel Aviv’s economic success is no miracle at all. It has been successful economically mainly because of the support it receives from the Western world.
The West has been trying to handle its guilt over failing the Jews and humanity during the Holocaust. Israel benefits greatly through its association agreement with the EU. Through this agreement, Israeli products and services have preferential access to the EU market. Many Israeli industrial products benefit from tariff exemption. Article 8 states that customs duties on imports and exports between the European community and Israel are prohibited. Agricultural products also benefit from reduced tariffs. This gives Israel a competitive edge.
But the perks are not limited to customs duties. As part of this agreement, Israeli products align with European standards, which helps attract investment into Israeli companies. Israel also benefits from European funding for its research programs. And Israeli institutions can partner with European institutions.
The EU is Israel’s most important trading partner. It accounted for 32 percent of Israel’s total trade in goods in 2024. More than 34 percent of Israel’s imports came from the EU, while 28.8 percent of its exports went to the bloc. If Israel loses this agreement, it would be a big blow to an already struggling economy.
Last year witnessed a decline in the number of small and medium-sized businesses in Israel, while Ultra Finance has warned of a “shock wave” to come in 2025 as owners contend with the fallout of the Gaza war. Israel’s economy is also suffering from a shortage of workers, as young men and women are being drafted into the military. Exports have suffered greatly, as more and more people are boycotting Israeli products.
It is time for punitive action. The war on Gaza will only stop when a majority of Israelis realize that it is affecting them negatively and that they would be better off making peace with the Palestinians rather than trying to eliminate them.
Israel has not stopped at anything so far. Neither the International Court of Justice’s ruling nor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have deterred Israel. The country’s leaders know they have lost their reputation. They do not care about their image anymore. They know it has already been destroyed.
The only way to coerce them into stopping this genocide is by affecting their economy — i.e., the livelihood of the average Israeli. This is the only way they will realize that the war is backfiring. Otherwise, they will not stop. Beyond empty words of condemnation, the world has taken no real action. Israel has deliberately killed journalists, medics and international aid workers and there have been no consequences.
The Israeli leaders have to realize that the world has something to say. Punitive action is needed. This is the only way to drive the Israeli public to reject the war. As long as they see that the world tolerates the criminality of their state, they will support the war, or at least will not push the government enough to end it. Views on the war are divided; Israeli society is very polarized. There is no decisive majority that wants the war to end.
International pressure is needed to prevent the looming famine in Gaza. The average Israeli needs to understand that this barbaric war will make their state a pariah and all the privileges they enjoy can be lost at the stroke of a pen. A suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement would create enough pressure for the war to stop and aid to flow into Gaza.
It is time for Europe to make a moral choice. This is a moment that will haunt the generations to come if Europe does not make the ethical choice. Every European country’s leadership should look 30 years into the future and wonder what they will tell their people then. Can they tell them that they could have stopped a famine but did not?
History will judge Europe’s leaders if they turn a blind eye while Gazans are perishing from famine.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602208
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