Spain, Slovenia, Ireland push EU to debate Israel pact suspension

Spain, Slovenia and Ireland have urged the European Union to debate suspending its association agreement with Israel due to violations and crimes the regime has committed in Gaza, occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

Speaking before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the three states had formally requested that the issue be placed on the agenda.

"Spain, along with Slovenia and Ireland, has requested that the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel be discussed and debated today," he said.

The top Spanish diplomat appealed to European countries to uphold the existing international humanitarian laws and norms.

"I expect every European country to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defense of international law. Anything different would be a defeat for the European Union," Albares added.

Last week, in a joint letter sent to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the three governments said Israel had taken a series of measures that "contravene human rights and violate international law and international humanitarian law."

They stated that Israel breached the 1995 agreement that outlines political, economic and trade relations between the EU and the Israeli entity.

They said repeated appeals to Israel to reverse course had been ignored.

Elsewhere in the letter, the ministers pointed to a proposed brutal Israeli law that would impose the death penalty by hanging on Palestinian prisoners convicted in military courts.

The letter also described the Israeli bill as "a grave violation of fundamental human rights" and a further step in the "systematic persecution, oppression, violence and discrimination" faced by Palestinians.

The ministers also cited the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza strip, saying conditions there were "unbearable", with continuing violations of the ceasefire agreement and insufficient aid entering the territory.

The letter warned that violence in the occupied West Bank was also intensifying, with settlers acting "with absolute impunity" alongside ongoing Israeli military raids, causing civilian deaths.

They called for "bold and immediate action" and said all options should remain on the table.

Spain and Slovenia have already moved to curb trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank following sustained public protests and growing political pressure.

Ireland is also seeking to revive its Occupied Territories Bill in the lower house of parliament, the Dail, first introduced in 2018, which would ban trade in goods and services from illegal settlements in the West Bank.

The EU is Israel's largest trading partner, with a relationship worth more than €45 billion a year. Any suspension or rupture of the agreement would therefore carry major economic and political consequences for the Tel Aviv regime.

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