JJP lobbies European Ambassador to take action on Gaza
On 14 July, JJP wrote to the EU Ambassador, advocating suspending those parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement that provide Israel with substantial material benefits. Pre-eminent among them is the tariff-free status of Israeli imports into the EU. This follows the EU External Action Service report that found Israel has been violating the human rights provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in many ways.
JJP also raised its concern about the recent “verbal agreement “ between the EU and Israel, under which Israel is supposed to allow substantially increased aid into Gaza. It appears this agreement could really be an Israeli ploy to prevent he EU from acting on the EAAS report.
Our letter
Your Excellency, Mr. Pedro Serrano 14 July 2025
Ambassador, Embassy of the European Union
Dear Ambassador Serrano,
We are writing to request a meeting to discuss the action the EU should now take, following the EEAS report on the issue of Israel’s compliance with Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Concentrating on the period since 7 October 2023, the report concluded that Israel has breached the human rights requirements of Article 2 in many ways.
We believe the High Representative should now propose suspending those parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement that provide Israel with substantial material benefits. Pre-eminent among them is the tariff-free status of Israeli imports into the EU. The Council of Minsters would then vote by the standard qualified majority procedure. Experience has shown that very strong action will be necessary to compel Israel to change course.
We are aware from press comment that High Representative Kallas appears minded to leave any subsequent action to member states initiative. We believe that would compromise the credibility of the Commission, perhaps fatally, in view of the extent to which Israel has been breaking IHL since 7th October 2023.
It is clear that Israel has been breaking the laws of war since the very start of its 21 months of war on Gaza. That the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians was a war crime and a crime against humanity, did not give Israel license to flout the principles of proportionality and discrimination central to the protection of civilians in time of war. In fact, since about March 2024, all authoritative scholars of genocide, the holocaust and international relations who have spoken out have concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.1 (See the annex below for data on the steadily increasing Palestinian casualties at the current time.)
The recent “verbal agreement” between the EU and Israel to significantly increase the daily supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza, announced on Thursday last week, is at first sight very welcome if long overdue. However, it could also be an Israeli ploy to prevent the EU from acting on the EEAS report at this week’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting. The next Foreign Affairs Council meetings are weeks away. We note with concern that the announcement was made by the EU, not Israel; that the agreement is only ”verbal”; that High Representative Kallas cited “shared understanding”, not agreement; that no numerical information was given at all; and that the future of the GHF was not mentioned at all.
We believe the Commission should call an emergency Foreign Affairs Council meeting if this week’s OCHA data shows that Israel continues to kill and wound hundreds of Palestinians, including at the GHF sites. We hope to hear from you shortly to arrange a meeting.
Arthur Goodman
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer
Annex
The weekly United Nations OCHA reports, “Gaza Strip Humanitarian Situation Updates”, show the rate of killing and wounding has steadily and considerably increased since the joint Canadian-UK-French statement was issued on 19 May. There was an average of 95 deaths and 402 injuries per day in the week ending 9 July, increases of 75% and 160% above the rate in the two months before 19 May.2
A big part of this increase has been due to the Israeli-American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). “The scale and frequency of these incidents are without precedent. In just over a month, the number of patients treated has surpassed the total seen in all mass casualty events during the entire previous year.”3 “The majority of the casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach US-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones.”4 “773 people have been killed and 5,101 injured in those circumstances.5
Replacing the near 400 former UN aid distribution sites with four GHF sites, only two of which are typically open at any one time, has inevitably caused the repeated crush of people desperate for food. Moreover, as the opening times are unpredictable, people start going to the sites in early morning darkness in the hope of getting some aid.
The Israeli army always says the troops felt threatened by the crush. The troops supposedly fire warning shots above the crowd, but scores of people are mysteriously shot – not only by rifle fire but also by mortars, heavy machine guns or tank fire. The army says it will investigate, time and time again.
We learned from Haaretz that soldiers deliberately fire at people, and from the Financial Times that Israel commissioned a financial model for relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the strip. Finally, we learned from the Guardian that Israeli Defence Minister Katz publicly confirmed his plan to concentrate the Palestinians of Gaza into a camp in Rafah, as a transit camp before they leave for other countries. We therefore know the GHF is a Kafkaesque system designed to break the will of the Palestinians to remain on their land, in furtherance of the expressed wish of important Israeli government ministers to empty Gaza of its population.6,7,8 Calling it a “voluntary migration” plan fools no one.
All this makes it clear how contemptuous the Israeli government is for the lives of Palestinians, as it is for countries that demand respect for their lives. We reiterate, very strong action will be necessary to compel Israel to change course.
Notes
1. https://jfjfp.com/voices/paper-on-legal-characterisation-of-israeli-assault-on-gaza/
2. Our updated calculations spreadsheet based on the OCHA data is also attached to our email.
3. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/09/gaza-aid-workers-overwhelmed-by-mass-casualty-incidents-at-food-distribution-sites
5. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-304-gaza-strip
7. https://www.ft.com/content/c0e661cc-55db-4e2a-b17b-a656e0cf6c14