Since the attacks of 7 October, the EU has provided political cover and material support for Israel. This has continued through almost eight months of unrelenting bombardment with almost 40,000 people killed, the forced displacement of 2.3 million people, the fastest descent into starvation of an entire population ever recorded and the total destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure including homes, hospitals, schools and universities, places of worship and bakeries. This support continued as Israel was placed on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague and as the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it would seek arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Were the EU to have applied pressure in October by imposing sanctions, an arms embargo and prohibiting the transit of US military equipment through Europe, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza may have been curtailed. The EU chose not to act then, and it continues to fail in its legal and moral duty to act now. This political cover and material support, particularly in light of the ICJ’s interim ruling which put all states on notice of a plausible case of genocide, makes the EU directly complicit in it.