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EU’s top diplomat calls to end cooperation with Israel, breaking decades-old agreement

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell proposes measure to suspend decades-old agreement with Israel and end ‘political dialog’ with the Jewish state, citing ongoing war with Hamas.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief is calling on the 27-state body to dramatically limit the EU’s ties with Israel, accusing the Jewish state of human rights violations in connection with the ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization.

On Wednesday, Josep Borrell, the Spanish lawmaker currently serving as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, penned a missive to the foreign ministers representing the EU’s 27 member states ahead of a joint meeting scheduled for Monday.

In the letter, Borrell proposed suspending the June 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement, which upgraded ties between Israel and the EU and established a formal, legal framework for political dialog between the two aimed at facilitating better relations and closer cooperation.

The agreement established a committee and council to ensure regular communication between Israel and the EU.

Borrell, however, called to suspend the “political dialog” enshrined under the agreement, accusing Israel of human rights violations in the Gaza Strip.

“In light of the above considerations, I will be tabling a proposal that the EU should invoke the human rights clause to suspend the political dialog with Israel,” Borrell wrote, according to a report by Reuters.

Borrell was quoted as citing “serious concerns about possible breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza,” while claiming that “thus far, these concerns have not been sufficiently addressed by Israel.”

According to the report, which cited three diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity, a number of European Union member state foreign ministers raised issues with the proposal Wednesday, signaling that Borrell was unlikely to secure the unanimous support necessary to move forward with his plan.

Monday’s meeting marks the last joint meeting of EU foreign ministers that Borrell is expected to lead before leaving office on December 1st.

Borrell has long criticized Israeli policy, and has frequently been at odds with Jerusalem regarding its wars against the Hamas and Hezbollah terror organizations after October 7th, 2023.

In March,  Borrell accused Israel of “provoking famine” in the Gaza Strip, while calling Gaza the world’s “greatest open-air prison” and “greatest open-air graveyard.”

In August, he proposed that the EU sanction two senior Israeli government ministers, leading the Israeli government to bar him from entering the country while still in office.