Rights and Accountability 12 March 2024
The European Union is abetting the genocide in Gaza.
APA imagesNo questions seem to have been raised about the Gaza genocide when the European Union approved new financial deals for Israel.
Last week I reported on how Brussels officials had rubber stamped the participation of the weapons maker Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in a $14 million science project focused on the refueling of planes.
Before completing my article, I contacted the European Commission (the EU’s executive) asking why it authorized a grant to IAI when that company’s products are being used to carry out a genocide in Gaza.
Although I requested an urgent reply, the European Commission took six days before it got back to me.
Rather than answering my question, the European Commission stated that all activities under its main research program “must have an exclusive focus on civilian applications.” The project involving IAI has such a focus, it added.
The assurance is worthless.
The EU-funded project involving IAI comes with “green” packaging. It has been put in the category of “climate, energy and mobility” under the research program – known as Horizon Europe.
Such labels might salve the conscience of a few administrators. But they do not alter the fact that IAI is actively providing and operating the tools of genocide.
IAI is, to quote its website, “thoroughly embedded” with Israeli forces and has celebrated how its “sophisticated technologies” are playing a “pivotal role” in the current war against Gaza.
Smooth traffic
The agreement for the project involving IAI was signed by the European Commission in mid-December.
Around the same time, the European Investment Bank (EIB) inked a loan worth approximately $273 million for a new light rail system in Tel Aviv.
The state of Israel is named as the “promoter-financial intermediary” in the loan agreement.
I contacted the EIB asking why it had entered into a contract with Israel when that state was bombarding Gaza.
Instead of answering that question, an EIB spokesperson pointed out that the light rail scheme was aimed at “alleviating congestion and reducing carbon emissions.”
Never mind that a famine has been forced on the people of Gaza. The traffic is going to flow more smoothly in Tel Aviv.
As the EIB is a European Union institution, it is obligated to respect international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention.
That convention places an onus on governments and public bodies to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
Issuing grants and loans to Israel would be reprehensible under any circumstances. Issuing them when the death toll is rapidly rising in Gaza is completely inexcusable.
Since the EU made the aforementioned financial decisions, the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to stop killing Palestinians. According to the court, there is a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide.
The European Union initially indicated that it took the court’s order seriously. If it were really serious, the EU would rescind the recent deals benefiting Israel.
The apparent refusal to do so means that the EU is abetting genocide.
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