The highest representative of Community diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has already raised the tone Israel’s upcoming military operation in Rafah. On the one hand, he has called on the United States to take measures to stop arms shipments to Tel Aviv and, on the other hand, he has criticized the displacement of civilians in the face of this offensive.
Although the international community has strongly condemned this Hamas terrorist attacks On October 7, 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came into being and repeatedly called for the release of the Jewish hostages. The truth, however, is that the operation launched in response by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is increasingly being questioned by its traditional allies.
US President Joe Biden has assured this Israel “killed too many people” and Borrell responded Monday, reminding him that the U.S. had the option to impose an arms embargo.
“If you think too many people have died, maybe you need to spend less on weapons to prevent so many people from dying. Isn’t that logical? The head of community diplomacy recalled that European countries did not provide weapons to the Jewish government back in 2006 Because of the escalation of the war in Lebanon, Washington has suspended arms sales to Israel.
“It is contradictory to say that many people are being murdered. We need to stop demanding things and start taking action.“said Borrell, who in these months has stood out for a much more critical stance towards Israel than that of other municipal officials such as the President of the European Commission herself, Ursula von der Leyen.
“My question is: Besides words, what else do you think we should do? The EU considers the death toll to be too highIs there a way to reduce it?? The EU does not send weapons to Israel, others do. If you think the death toll is too high, maybe you can do something to reduce it.” Several non-governmental organizations have denounced the sale of spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to the Dutch judiciary, fearing that these would be used for the Gaza offensive, and the country’s courts have ruled in favor of the complainants. The incumbent government, headed by liberal Mark Rutte, has seven days to appeal this ruling.
Borrell not only called on Washington to walk the talk, but also sharply criticized the Netanyahu government’s demand that the UN cooperate in the evacuation of civilians inside the Gaza Strip. “They are being evacuated, okay, where? to the moon?”Borrell asked himself ironically after the meeting of the Cooperation Ministers of the Twenty-seven in the municipal capital, which was also attended by Philippe Lazzari, Commissioner General of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Lazzari just explained that “He has no idea” what location within the Strip can be considered safe since the residents of the Gaza Strip have followed the attacks of the Israeli army and the military operation in Rafah has pushed the residents of the Gaza Strip to move closer to the border with Egypt.
Since the beginning of Israel’s response to Hamas attacks, Egypt has made it clear that it will not accept Palestinian refugees. The Cairo government is only willing to leave the Rafah border crossing open to enable access for humanitarian assistance. The country refuses to accept refugees due to its poor economic situation and is already accepting asylum seekers due to other conflicts such as the war in Sudan. From a political perspective, Egypt claims that this would mean confirming Israel’s attacks and driving Gazans out of Gaza.