The S&D leader, Iratxe García, calls for immediate EU action in response to the Israeli government’s illegal plan to seize the Gaza Strip, describing it as a formof extermination and ethnic cleansing.
During a plenary debate with the Council and Commission, the Socialists and Democrats criticised yesterday’s insufficient decision by EU Foreign Affairs ministers to review the political and economic agreement between Israel and the European Union. Instead, they ask for the suspension of the agreement, a total arms embargo on Israel, a trade ban with illegal settlements and individual sanctions.
The S&D leader also recalls the importance of listening to the people of Israel, who contrary to Netanyahu’s government, the majority believe peace will only come through two fully recognised and sovereign states.
Iratxe García said:
“With over 53,000 lives lost, 14,000 babies at risk of death, and Netanyahu’s government blocking access to food and medicine and threatening to destroy and drop an atomic bomb on Gaza, it should come as no surprise that the world begins to call what is happening in Gaza a genocide. How can it be that the president of the European Commission has never condemned these crimes and remains silent in the face of the ongoing extermination and ethnic cleansing in Gaza?
“Yesterday’s EU decision to review the Association Agreement is not enough. It should have been done a long time ago. Now it’s time for the suspension of it. A revision is not enough. Let’s suspend the Association Agreement, impose a total arms embargo on Israel, and impose individual sanctions on senior members of Netanyahu’s government.
“Everything we do is not in defence of Palestinians; it’s also in defence of the people of Israel. Because the people of Israel are not Netanyahu. In the face of his genocidal government, there are brave voices, like that of Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, who yesterday reminded Netanyahu that ‘Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa’. He also reminded him that ‘a sensible state does not kill babies as a hobby, nor does it pursue the expulsion of a population’.
“We must build a just and lasting peace with leaders like Golan, with the Israel that is not silent, the one that stands up for human rights and wants the release of the hostages. And believes that peace will only come with two fully recognised and sovereign states.
“Let us not be complicit. Let us be Europe.”
