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Sant says EU should suspend Israeli-EU association agreement
Sant said that for the EU to be coherent with its proclaimed values, it should give “concrete expression to a condemnation of Israeli actions” by immediately suspending the Israeli-EU association agreement
5 March 2024, 4:40pm
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
Labour MEP Alfred Sant
Outgoing Labour MEP Alfed Sant has called on the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israeli, a free trade deal, if it is to remain in line with its values
Sant said that for the EU to be coherent with its proclaimed values, it should give “concrete expression to a condemnation of Israeli actions” by immediately suspending the Israeli-EU association agreement.
“The EU should also advise member states against the supply of war material to Israel,” Sant told a European Parliament plenary debate on the ongoing war in the Gaza strip.
The EU–Israel Association Agreement incorporates free trade arrangements for industrial goods and concessionary arrangements for trade in agricultural products.
Sant condemned without reservation the Hamas attack on Israeli communities and acknowledged that Israel could only regard it as an act of war and take action accordingly.
But Sant condemned the Israeli retaliation. “War has been conducted by the Israeli government in a totally disproportionate manner against the Palestinian people living in Gaza, whom it has controlled in an authoritarian manner for the last decades.”
The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on 7 October 2023, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip. Following Hamas’s deadly attack, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 people and resulted in more than 200 people being taken hostage, Israel declared war against the terrorist group.
“In breach of the rules of war, there has been a total disregard for civilian casualties which have reached disastrous levels, with most being women and children,” Sant said, stressing that Israeli claims that civilian deaths are inevitable collateral damage or due to Hamas using civilians as buffers are not tenable. “Indeed, they give credence to counter-claims that the Israeli strategy is defined by revenge and carries a genocidal intent, within the context of Israel having degenerated into an apartheid state”.
Sant noted that the attempt by Israel to blank the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) out of the situation heightened the credence of such statements.
This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The action was co-financed by the European Union in the frame of the European Parliament's grant programme in the field of communication. The European Parliament was not involved in its preparation and is, in no case, responsible for or bound by the information or opinions expressed in the context of this action. In accordance with applicable law, the authors, interviewed people, publishers or programme broadcasters are solely responsible. The European Parliament can also not be held liable for direct or indirect damage that may result from the implementation of the action.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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