Germany and Italy blocked a bid to suspend a key European Union trade pact with Israel on Tuesday, as European Union foreign ministers met to discuss the bloc\u2019s relationship with Israel.<\/p>\n
Three member nations \u2013 Spain, Slovenia and Ireland \u2013 had requested that the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel be reconsidered because of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n While it has been blocked this week, the move is a reflection of growing unease across the continent over Israel\u2019s conduct in the occupied Palestinian territories in recent years, as well as mounting calls for action from rights groups over Israel\u2019s growing list of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n In Luxembourg on Tuesday, Spain\u2019s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters. \u201cI expect every European country to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defence of international law,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything different would be a defeat for the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n The bloc remains divided on its ties to Israel, however. Countries such as Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, in particular, are reluctant to take any drastic steps, meaning any move towards full suspension of the agreement is unlikely in the near future.<\/p>\n German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called Spain\u2019s request \u201cinappropriate\u201d, saying any issues had to be discussed in a \u201ccritical, constructive dialogue with Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n So, what is the EU-Israel agreement, and why is it so controversial?<\/p>\n The agreement, which came into effect in 2000, grants Israel preferential access to EU markets and supports cooperation within key areas such as trade, research and diplomacy.<\/p>\n The European Union is Israel\u2019s largest trading partner, making the agreement a major part of their relationship.<\/p>\n A central feature of the deal is its human rights clause, known as Article 2, which states that cooperation is \u201cbased on respect for human rights and democratic principles\u201d.<\/p>\n This clause is at the heart of the current debate, as critics argue that violations by Israel could justify suspending the agreement, either fully or in part.<\/p>\n Calls to suspend the agreement have been made by several governments, rights groups and EU citizens, particularly those who have long condemned Israel\u2019s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza.<\/p>\n Within the EU, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia are leading efforts to push for a review and suspension of the agreement, arguing that the bloc must act in line with its legal and human rights commitments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to act. We need to make sure that our fundamental values are protected,\u201d Helen McEntee, Ireland\u2019s foreign minister, said in Luxembourg.<\/p>\n Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said while Brussels is calling for at least a partial suspension, a \u201cfull suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European \u2060\u2060countries\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement addressed to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen on Thursday, more than 60 human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, called on the EU and member states to \u201cadopt long-overdue measures, including suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements and suspending all transfers and transit of arms to Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n Public pressure has also grown significantly. On April 15, The Justice for Palestine European Citizens\u2019 Initiative (ECI) successfully gathered one million signatures, three months after it was launched, in support of its campaign demanding that Brussels halt the association agreement.<\/p>\n The campaign accuses Israel of committing genocide, maintaining an illegal occupation and enforcing an apartheid system against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n As a result of the number of signatures it has gathered, according to EU law, the European Commission is \u201crequired to react, and decide what, if any, action it will take in response to the initiative, justifying its decision\u201d.<\/p>\n Mainly because of anger about Israel\u2019s treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 71,000 people have been killed in Israel\u2019s war, and in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian villages and communities have come under increased attacks by Israelis from illegal settlements and raids by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s two-year genocide in Gaza has become the catalyst for growing calls to end the association agreement.<\/p>\n Since Israel\u2019s war on the coastal enclave began on October 7, 2023, more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Many thousands of people more are missing, lost under the rubble and presumed dead.<\/p>\n Despite a US-led \u201cceasefire\u201d agreement which was reached between Israel and Hamas last October, Israeli forces have continued to launch attacks and strikes on Gaza on a near-daily basis, killing more than 700 Palestinians since then, and continuing to severely restrict essential aid from entering the war-devastated coastal enclave.<\/p>\n A UN inquiry in September last year found genocidal intent\u00a0in Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war.<\/p>\n In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against Israel, accusing it of conduct amounting to genocide in Gaza. That case is ongoing.<\/p>\n And, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.<\/p>\n There are \u201creasonable grounds\u201d to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu \u201cintentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity\u201d, the ICC said.<\/p>\n The court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d in relation to the Hamas-led assault on army outposts and villages in southern Israel on October 8, 2023, when more than 1,000 Israelis were killed, and more than 200 were captured and taken to be held in Gaza. Deif\u2019s death in an Israeli air strike on Gaza was confirmed in January 2025.<\/p>\n Concerns also extend to the occupied West Bank, where rising settler violence against Palestinians has received widespread condemnation by European governments. The violence, which Palestinians and activists say is ignored and often supported by the Israeli armed forces, has prompted discussions within the EU about possible sanctions targeting \u201cextremist settlers\u201c.<\/p>\n The continued building of illegal Israeli settlements has further intensified criticism, as it is seen by many European nations as undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.<\/p>\n A familiar pattern is that outposts are established at the edges of Palestinian villages, after which sustained and often violent harassment, including diverting water supplies, killing or stealing livestock and destroying solar panels, of the communities living there begins. Once the members of a community have been driven out, an illegal Israeli settlement is built on the site. These illegal settlements then gain retrospective approval from the Israeli authorities at some point later on.<\/p>\n In December last year, 14 countries, including the UK, Canada, Denmark and France, condemned Israel\u2019s approval of 19 \u2060\u2060settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying the move was illegal and jeopardised the Gaza ceasefire and \u201clong-term peace and security across the region\u201d.<\/p>\n In the same month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory had reached its highest level since at least 2017.<\/p>\n International law stipulates that occupying powers like Israel must not move their own civilian populations into occupied Palestinian territory, such as the West Bank, where about 700,000 settlers now reside.<\/p>\n Germany and Italy blocked a bid to suspend a key European Union trade pact with Israel on Tuesday, as European Union foreign ministers met to discuss the bloc\u2019s relationship with Israel. Three member nations \u2013 Spain, Slovenia and Ireland \u2013 had requested that the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel be reconsidered because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
What is the EU-Israel Association agreement?<\/h2>\n
Who is calling for the suspension?<\/h2>\n
Why are they calling for the suspension?<\/h2>\n
Gaza<\/h3>\n
![\"Six](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP25364306921280-1775806854.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
Occupied West Bank<\/h3>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/INTERACTIVE-Occupied-West-Bank-Israel-approves-19-new-illegal-settlements-1766394958.png?quality=80\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"