JJP lobbies EU member states to suspend Israel’s tariff exemptions
On 10 July, JJP wrote to the Ambassadors of all European Union member states, urging their governments to vote to suspend those parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement that provides Israel with substantial material benefits. Pre-eminent among them is the tariff-free status of Israeli imports into the EU. That followed the EU External Action Service report that concluded Israel had indeed breached the human rights requirements of the Agreement for many years, in many ways.
Our letter to the ambassadors of the countries that voted to seek the EEAS report is below . We wrote a slightly different letter to the ambassadors of the countries that voted against asking for the report.
We included an annex in the letter, providing information on the increasing Palestinian casualties in Gaza since Canada, the UK and France issued their Joint Statement on 19 May. The annex 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.
Our letter
Your Excellency ……………10 July, 2025
Ambassador, Embassy of …………..
Dear Ambassador ………..,
We are writing to you because your government voted to ask EEAS to report on whether Israel was breaching Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. EEAS concluded that Israel had indeed breached the human rights requirements of Article 2 for many years, in many ways.
We now urge your government to use the qualified majority voting procedure to suspend those parts of the Association Agreement that provide Israel with substantial material benefits. Pre-eminent among them is the tariff-free status of Israeli imports into the EU.
Israel has, in fact, been breaching the laws of war since the very start of its 21 months of war on Gaza. That the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on 7th October 2023 was a war crime and a crime against humanity, did not give Israel license to flout the principles of precaution, proportionality and discrimination in its pursuit of Hamas, which it has done from the beginning. 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
It is clear from experience that very strong action will be necessary to compel Israel to change course.
When the International Court of Justice finally rules that Israel committed genocide in Gaza (we believe that is when, not if), those countries that did nothing effective to stop Israel will stand accused of complicity with genocide. Your government will earn universal respect if it now decisively supports international law and justice by voting to suspend Israel’s privileges under the Association Agreement.
The annex below provides information on the increasing Palestinian casualties in Gaza since Canada, the UK and France issued their Joint Statement on 19 May.
Yours sincerely,
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.”8 “The majority of the casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach US-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones.”3 “773 people have been killed and 3,270 injured in those circumstances.4
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.5,6,7 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 spreadsheet making these calculations based on the OCHA data is also attached to our email.
4. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-304-gaza-strip
6. https://www.ft.com/content/c0e661cc-55db-4e2a-b17b-a656e0cf6c14
8. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/09/gaza-aid-workers-overwhelmed-by-mass-casualty-incidents-at-food-distribution-sites