Israel/OPT: Civil society organisations call on the EU to suspend trade agreement with Israel
Since October 2023, the people of Gaza have been facing what the ICJ has determined is a "plausible risk of genocide". In light of the ongoing suffering by the Palestinian people both in Gaza and in the unlawfully occupied West Bank, civil society organisations, EU member states and members of the European Parliament have called for sanctions and a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Since the agreement entered into force in 2000 and created a free trade area, trade between the EU and Israel has increased substantially; today the EU accounts for around 28% of Israel's trade in goods, making it Israel's biggest trading partner.
Critics argue that Israel is not complying with Article 2 of the Agreement which establishes that human rights are an essential element of the Agreement:
“Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.”
In March and April 2024, 196 civil society organisations, SOMO and the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories called on EU decision-makers to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
In August 2024, Amnesty International also reiterated the need to review whether Israel has violated its obligations under Article 2, emphasising that in light of the recent Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice there can be "no business as usual" for the EU and Israel. According to Amnesty International, the ICJ has demonstrated that Spain, Ireland and Slovenia were correct in calling for a review of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel. This is in view of both the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and the ICJ’s determination that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza in the case brought against Israel under the Genocide Convention. Member states blocking such a review are acting against the obligations indicated by the ICJ in its Advisory Opinion, argues Amnesty International.
Israel refused the EU's request for an ad-hoc meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council to discuss Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations and instead wants to convene in the second half of 2024, when Hungary — one of Israel’s biggest allies in the EU — holds the EU presidency and presides over negotiations.