EU foreign policy chief suggests reevaluating arms supply to 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Feb 2024 19:20
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Josep Borrell has subtly urged a reconsideration of military supplies to "Israel" in light of the unbearable civilian casualties in Gaza.

Forcibly displaced Palestinian children stand atop a small hill near tents at a make-shift shelter for Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 30, 2024, amid the ongoing Israeli genocide. (AFP)

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has urged the US to halt arms shipments to "Israel", drawing a parallel with the situation in 2006 when international condemnation surrounded the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.

Borrell also criticized Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to initiate an offensive in Rafah, where numerous Palestinians sought refuge. Meanwhile, a Dutch appeals court mandated the Netherlands government to cease the supply of F-35 fighter jet parts to "Israel" due to concerns about their use in potential violations of international law.

“Netanyahu doesn’t listen to anyone. [He says] they are going to evacuate [the people]. Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate this people to?," he told reporters in Brussels after a meeting with the head of UNWRA, the UN agency funding Palestinian schools and hospitals.

“How many times have you heard the most prominent leaders of the world saying too many people are being killed," he said.

“President Biden has said this [killing] is too much, said it is not proportional," he added.

“Well if you believe that too many people are being killed maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed. That is logical,” said Borrell.

“In 2006 the world ... the US already took this decision. They already a took the decision to halt the supply of arms to Israel because Israel didn’t want to stop the war. Exactly the same thing happens today. Everybody goes to Tel Aviv begging ‘Please, don’t do that, protect civilians; don’t kill so many. How many is too many?”

This comes shortly after the US Senate approved a $95 billion supplemental military aid package for "Israel," Ukraine, and Taiwan last Thursday.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that Israeli occupation forces committed 19 massacres in 24 hours only, killing 164 Palestinians and injuring 200, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza to 28,340, in addition to 67,984 injuries.

The Ministry further stressed that many victims remained under the rubble as the IOF prevented ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them.

UK urged to suspend arms sales to 'Israel', support ICJ decisions

Around 30 UK organizations, including legal and atrocity prevention groups, have been calling on Foreign Secretary David Cameron to have the government abide by and support the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and suspend the supply of arms to "Israel".

In a letter sent last week, the groups argue that the UK, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, "is bound to ensure it helps prevent and ensure it is not complicit in violations of the convention. The provisional measures issued by the ICJ therefore have immediate and urgent implications for UK policy."

"Israel" has until February 23 to hand over a report to the ICJ regarding its compliance with the six orders issued. It is required to "take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza after proof was found of "discernibly genocidal and dehumanizing rhetoric coming from senior Israeli government officials."

The letter has also been sent to the shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, and the UK special envoy for humanitarian aid in Gaza, Mark Bryson-Richardson.

Cameron has previously stated that the ICJ should not subject "Israel" to accountability in the case raised by South Africa.

The letter also added, "In light of the court’s findings, there is now a clear risk, as set out under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC), that British arms and military equipment transferred to Israel might be used to facilitate or commit violations of the Genocide Convention as well as violations of international humanitarian law."