EU must suspend free trade deal with Israel – member state

The EU must consider suspending its free trade agreement with Israel in light of alleged human rights abuses by the Jewish state, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday. Sanchez has already called on the international community to halt arms sales to Israel.

Spain and Ireland formally urged the European Commission to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement in February, amid the conflict in Gaza and widespread concern about possible breaches of international human rights law by Israel. Brussels has yet to respond.

“The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two European countries to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated,” Sanchez stated at an event on Monday.

Additionally, the Spanish leader condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) withdraw from the combat zone. “There is not going to be a withdrawal of UNIFIL,” Sanchez stressed, criticizing Israeli attacks on peacekeepers.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, currently led by Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, reported at least four Israeli attacks on its forces last week, as the Jewish state expanded its ground operation. Spain has deployed more than 600 peacekeepers to Lebanon. Following the attacks, Sanchez called on the international community to cease exporting weapons to the Israeli government.

He urged other countries to join Spain in condemning Israel’s attacks on UNIFIL in his speech on Monday, claiming that Netanyahu “has one aim, that of imposing a new regional order by force.” Sanchez defended a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine but accused Netanyahu of wishing to “destroy” this aim. 

Both Spain and Ireland formally recognized the Palestinian state earlier this year.

The international community has been increasingly critical of the Israeli military after a year of conflict in Gaza, which has devastated the enclave and killed more than 42,000 Palestinians to date, according to local health authorities. At the beginning of the year, South Africa launched a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, alleging that the Jewish state was committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the enclave.

Since Israel announced a second phase of the conflict and expanded military action into Lebanon, at least 37 UN-contributing countries have officially condemned Israeli attacks on UNIFIL.

More than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon in the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.