Location in the Gaza Strip: Germany brakes in EU-Israel sanctions

Germany and several other EU countries do not want to agree to a proposal for the sanctioning of Israel because of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The German press agency found out about diplomats when consulting the constant representatives of the Member States in Brussels, the German Press Agency had not been agreed.

At the meeting in Brussels, Germany was one of the countries that consider further analysis of the proposal and want to wait for developments in the Gaza Strip in the coming days. According to the information, some delegations also critically commented because they fear that sanctions against Israel could make the necessary dialogue with the Israeli authorities more difficult.

According to the EU Commission, 15 of the 27 EU countries must agree to the implementation of the sanction proposal, which together represent at least 65 percent of the population of the participating Member States.

The decisive countries are considered Germany and Italy in the case of Israel sanctions. All other large EU countries and many smaller ones had recently become open to punitive measures. After the meeting in Brussels, diplomats said that many delegations had expressed their support for sanctions in order to increase the pressure on the Israeli authorities and thus achieve an improvement in the situation on site.

EU Commission: Israel violates human rights

Specifically, the EU Commission had recommended partially to suspend Israel’s participation in the Horizon Europe research promotion program on Monday evening. As a reason, the draft for the legal text states that Israel violates human rights and humanitarian international law with his approach in the Gaza Strip and the resulting humanitarian disaster. This violates an essential principle of cooperation between the EU and Israel in the context of the applicable association agreement. Thousands of civilian fatalities and a rapidly increasing number of cases of extreme malnutrition, especially in children, are also mentioned.

On Tuesday evening, diplomats said that the competent working group of the Member States Council should now take care of clarifying technical questions about the sanction proposal. The committee of the permanent representatives will then be advised on progress on the further procedure.

According to the German Press Agency, it is also possible that legal disputes delay the procedure. Because some Member States doubt whether the sanction proposal can be assumed by the EU Commission by majority decision.