The top diplomat of the European Union, Joseph Borrellhas been in favor this Saturday of the European bloc considering commercial pressure measures against Israel as it did in 2014 when Russia seized Ukraine control of the Crimean peninsula to avoid accusations of “double standards.”
“When Russia invaded Crimea, we immediately took the decision to prohibit the import into the European Union of products from occupied territories, because they were illegally occupied. We have not done the same with respect to the occupied Palestinian territories,” Borrell recalled during his participation in Nicosia (Cyprus), during the forum of the Coalition of Two States for Israel and Palestine.
Borrell also recalled that the EU maintains with Israel “the strongest association agreement that we could imagine with any other country in the world.” Given that the Israeli Government “seems to be willing to violate international law or is already doing so” with its military campaign in Gaza and Lebanon, Borrell has asked “why the same criteria applied in Crimea are not applied.”
“I think that we need to take a hard look at how we measure our partner’s behavior and act in accordance with our principles,” added the diplomat.
Borrell defends the International Criminal Court
Borrell, who is about to leave the position he has held since 2019, also has expressed surprise at the “polarized reactions” between EU member states on the decision adopted this week by the International Criminal Court (ICC) his former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and the military leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Mohamed Deif, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In fact, Borrell again drew a parallel with another court arrest warrant, issued in March of last year, against the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, for an alleged war crime for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from captured areas to Russian territory.
“EU Member States They have shown great support and when the court decided to issue an arrest warrant against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and many voices applauded him. “Some of these voices have now remained silent, which is quite surprising,” he lamented.
European leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán They have even offered to hold a state reception for the Russian presidentas a gesture of defiance to the court.
Borrell has insisted that The CFI order is not a “political decision, but rather a judicial one, and taken by an international court that was created with strong support from the member states of the European Union.
“It has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.” and that it is not a political decision, but I am alarmed by the extreme polarization and politicization of the reactions against this decision,” he stressed.
