EU FM denied parting shot at Israel before being replaced

Josep Borrell had wanted the meeting to focus on the Gaza war and alleged Israeli wrongs; Jerusalem said no.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The body that coordinates Israel’s relationship with the European Union will meet only after its anti-Israel chairman leaves his post, Ynet reported Thursday.

The EU-Israel Association Council is headed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. This is currently Josep Borrell, who has harshly and repeatedly criticized Israel’s conduct in its war against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.

Last month EU ministers requested an ad-hoc meeting of the Council specifically to talk about Jerusalem’s human rights obligations under the terms of its agreement with the 27-member bloc.

It is supposed to meet annually, but last did so in 2022 after a decade-long hiatus.

It was expected that Borrell would use the opportunity to try to push through anti-Israel resolutions.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz asked for help from the more Israel-friendly countries in the EU, such as Hungary, Germany, Greece the Czech Republic and Austria.

The meeting has now been pushed off until after July 1, when the composition of the bloc’s governing body, the European Commission, will change as a result of the new political reality following the just-completed Europe-wide elections.

Since the bloc must act with consensus on all foreign matters, including the agenda for the Council meeting, negotiations have begun on the topic, the report noted, which EU sources said could last as many as four months.

In October, Borrell will be replaced by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who is considered more of a friend to the Jewish state.

Prior to this diplomatic success, Israel had put conditions on the meeting of the Council.

In its official reply, Jerusalem said that it would be agreeable only to a regular meeting, one in which “all elements of EU-Israel bilateral relations, including trade, education, and culture, [would] be addressed,” as well as human rights issues.

“Not under any circumstances will we agree to an ad-hoc special Association Council, however the High Representative wishes to call it,” the Israeli mission to the EU said in a statement to Politico. “We cannot use the Association Council as leverage for … political purposes.”

On Monday, while meeting with European foreign ministers, Borrell had stiffened his back, telling reporters, “This will not be a meeting like the others; we did not convene this meeting to talk about the implementation of Erasmus.”

In Borrell’s eyes, Israel and not Hamas policy to use ordinary Gazans as human shields is to blame for the high death count of civilians, where he accepts without question Hamas’ unlikely statistics.

When the IDF rescued four hostages from civilians’ apartments in Nuseirat earlier this month, he condemned the raid for the loss of human life on the Gazan side, not acknowledging that many of those killed were terrorists who fired heavily on the Israeli troops to try and prevent the rescue.

Borrell also blames Israel for the lack of sufficient humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, even though there is ample proof that Hamas steals much of the aid and recent reports have shown that the food crisis there is largely a myth.

EUIsrael-EU relationsIsrael-Hamas warJosep Borell