Why we back the Netherlands' call to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement

The recent statement by the Dutch Foreign Minister, Caspar Veldkamp, calling for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of Israel’s ongoing violations of international law in Gaza, is a significant step towards the EU acknowledging its legal and moral obligation to hold Israel to account for violations of human rights and international law.

Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement bases the relationship between the parties and the provisions of the Agreement itself on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which constitutes an essential element of the Agreement.

Yet, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has determined that Israeli forces have directly targeted at least 17 journalists and two media workers in killings which the organisation classifies as murders, and has identified at least 20 cases of journalists and media workers whose deaths indicate possible targeting. UN experts had raised concerns over the killings of journalists, saying they were “alarmed at the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza.”

In August 2024, we joined 60 organisations in writing to EU High Representative Josep Borrell, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, and EU member state foreign ministries, asking that the EU take action against the Israeli authorities’ unprecedented killing of journalists and other violations of media freedom. The letter called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement as well as further EU targeted sanctions against those responsible.

In April 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was followed by a June 2024 report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which found that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since October 7, 2023.

In this context, it is indefensible for the EU to maintain a privileged trade relationship with a State that is credibly accused of grave violations of human rights. The EU must respond not only with words but with action. We echo the Netherlands’ call, as well as those of Ireland and Spain, for an urgent and thorough review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. We urge other EU Member States, as we continue to urge Malta’s Foreign Minister Ian Borg, to follow the Netherlands’ example and call for a formal reassessment of the Agreement.