Borrell says Europe ignorant of scale of Israeli aggression on Gaza
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In an opinion piece on the EU's website, Borrell says EU nations lack knowledge about the "tragic" situation in Gaza due to a diminished journalistic presence in the Strip.
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Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, speaks at a joint press conference with Lebanon's Foreign Minister following their meeting in Beirut, on January 6, 2024. (AFP)
100 days into the war on Gaza, Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy leader, said the continent is oblivious to the depth of the aggression on Gaza since most journalists have either been killed or are unable to reach the besieged Strip.
In an opinion piece on the EU's website, Borrell expressed that the "tragic" situation in Gaza is not well-known in Europe "not least because Western journalists do not have access to the enclave and many Palestinian journalists have lost their lives."
I started 2024 with a new mission to the Middle East. The EU urgentlyneeds to deal with the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the risk of this conflict spreading in a more united way.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) January 13, 2024
Read my blog post:https://t.co/dYHIMSy4rQ pic.twitter.com/eBT08YFAoJ
In his piece, Borrell encouraged members of the union to band together and advocate for a resolution to the war, where "Israel" has murdered nearly 24,000 Palestinians since October 7.
He stated that the lack of agreement among EU members on how to respond to the violence in Gaza has undermined the bloc's standing in the area, preventing it from exerting influence over events.
He reiterated that nearly 2 million Gazans are forcibly displaced as a result of the Israeli attacks and that the Palestinian people are in "desperate need of food, water, medicine and healthcare," also touching on the risk of famine in the besieged strip.
He stated that the EU will vehemently reject any forcible transfer of the Palestinian people outside of Gaza as urged by some in the Israeli cabinet.
Borrell also cautioned EU members that a lack of unity in resolving the Palestinian crisis might lead to its spread to already dangerous countries like Yemen and Lebanon.
Murder of journalists ongoing in Gaza
Borrell failed to mention that journalists who have been killed in Gaza were not killed by accident but were targeted by the Israeli aggression to silence the truth.
The Government Media Office in Gaza announced on Thursday that the number of journalists martyred has risen to 113 since the beginning of the genocidal war launched by "Israel" on the Gaza Strip after Palestinian journalists Fuad Abu Khamash and Ahmad Badir were killed in direct Israeli airstrikes.
Two journalists were killed today by "Israel" in the #Gaza Strip, raising the death toll of journalists killed by the occupation since October 7 to 109.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 7, 2024
"Israel" continues to violate international laws through its aggressive actions in Gaza, indiscriminately targeting civilians,… pic.twitter.com/EZDX7yHNac
He also failed to mention that the Israeli Supreme Court has dismissed a request by foreign media groups to grant journalists independent access to the besieged Gaza Strip.
"Israel" controls admission into Gaza and has not permitted foreign journalists to visit there freely since the war began on October 7.
The court claimed that the limitations were necessary on security grounds, since independent access by journalists may "endanger" Israeli occupation forces.
The court falsely asserted that allowing journalists in would expose potential "operational details" like IOF locations in ways that would "put them in real danger."
A report by Politico last week detailed that Europe's reputation among countries of the Global South, which had already been damaged by its double standards regarding the War in Ukraine, had become even more damaged following the outbreak of the war on Gaza due to their double standards.
As a matter of fact, while Borrell decries a lack of information from Gaza, "Israel" is being tried in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war crimes and genocide against Palestinians, with many countries expressing their backing of the South African case against the occupation.
Furthermore, numerous European leaders have called for an end to the carnage, and scores of European nations have seen hundreds of thousands mobilize to protest the ongoing genocide.
So how then can Borrell claim that Europe is ignorant of the reality?
