To the attention of:
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission,
Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, EC Vice-President,
European Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
While the entire world has its eyes fixed on the Persian Gulf, hoping that the memorandum of understanding signed between the United States and Iran will finally bring an end to the illegal war unleashed by Israel and the United States, Israel continues to occupy southern Lebanon, displace millions of people and intensify its criminal policies against the Palestinian people.
In Gaza, the displaced population—victims of genocide and the destruction of all their means of subsistence—is confined to an increasingly smaller area, while Israel systematically destroys the part of the territory it occupies. Major international humanitarian NGOs have been forced to cease their activities, and journalists are still barred from entering. Despite the “ceasefire” on paper, Israel continues to kill, maim and starve Palestinians.
In the West Bank, settlement expansion is accelerating, and violence by settlers—protected by the occupying army—is being unleashed against Palestinians. New laws are being passed, or are in the works, to further increase Israeli control over the entire occupied Palestinian territory. In East Jerusalem, evictions and demolitions are on the rise and threatening entire neighborhoods.
In Israel itself, Palestinians face constant threats; they are targeted by discriminatory laws that relegate them to second-class citizenship. They are not spared by the apartheid system that targets the entire Palestinian population; the recent death penalty law, which applies to Palestinians alone, is a glaring example of this apartheid regime.
The impunity that Israel has enjoyed for decades—particularly from the European Union and its member states—has led us to this situation, and keeps on driving regional instability and global repercussions. We need to recall that the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion (AO) of July 19 states the illegality of occupation and compels the States to act accordingly to put an end to this occupation and enforce the rights of the Palestinian people. It poses legal obligations on Europe, the EU and its member states.
The next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, scheduled for July 13, appears to be the European Union’s last chance to finally put an end to Israel’s impunity. While we welcome the strong wording in the previous council meeting conclusions on June 18-19, the words alone have consistently failed to force Israel to comply with international law.
A ban on settlement products—which may be on the agenda for this Council meeting—would of course be welcome. How can we have accepted, for so many years, that products derived from a war crime—the crime of colonization—be allowed onto the European market?
But beyond this common-sense commercial measure, which should have been taken years ago, real sanctions and countermeasures are needed to put an end to decades of Israel’s disregard for international law. Most of these measures have been on the Council’s agenda since September 2025. In particular, we call for:
- The suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel on the basis of its Article 2, which is clearly being violated; at a minimum, the suspension of its trade component, which can be decided by a qualified majority of the Council and which was supported by large majority in European Parliament voting in September 2025,
- Israel’s exclusion from the Horizon Europe research program, with this exclusion applying, at a minimum, to Israeli defence/security ministries and companies,
- An end to all arms trade and military/security cooperation with Israel,
- A reaffirmation of European support for UNRWA, and the mobilization of resources to support its work.
We appeal for you to take action to ensure that these measures are finally adopted at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on July 13. Such an action is long over-due, as a recently leaked EU foreign service document shows that the EU should have taken strong measures back in 2017. The credibility of the European Union and its commitment to its values are at stake.
It is time to affirm that the rule of law must take precedence over the law of the jungle.