Borrell: EU must Make Choice on ‘Israel’

By Staff, Agencies

The EU’s security and foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, admitted that the EU is divided over the war in Gaza because the goal of upholding international law appears to clash with support for “Israel”.

Last Friday, the International Court of Justice [ICJ] ordered “Israel” to halt its military aggression in the Gazan city of Rafah, where over a million people are currently living in severely overcrowded conditions.

While addressing a European University Institute event on the same day in Florence, Borrell mentioned the ruling by the Hague-based court, acknowledging it a divisive issue for the EU.

“We will have to choose between our support to the international institutions and the rule of law or our support for ‘Israel’,” he said, adding that making the two “compatible” will be difficult.

The EU diplomat also said that all member states agree on the need to seek a two-state solution. He refuted the notion that recognition of Palestinian statehood is a “gift to Hamas” – after such accusations were leveled at Ireland, Norway and Spain, over their pledge last week to recognize Palestine.

Borrell called the criticism “completely unfounded”. He maintained that “there is not a military solution to the conflict in the Middle East” and that diplomacy is required to break the “stalemate.”

Otherwise “we will go from funerals to funerals, generations after generations,” he warned.