Brussels, 18 July 2025
The International Federation for Rights and Development (IFRD) expresses its deepest concern and outrage over the European Union’s decision not to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, despite Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza for the fourth consecutive day.
This inaction was justified by High Representative Kaja Kallas, who asked the Council to delay suspension and instead give her ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials “a chance to improve the situation.” The EU issued a vague public statement promising to “closely monitor” the flow of aid—while knowing full well that not a single humanitarian truck has entered Gaza in four days.
Meanwhile, civil servants and senior officials have left Brussels for the summer recess. Gaza is bleeding, and Europe has chosen not only silence, but absence.
Let it be clear: this is not diplomacy—it is complicity. The EU’s continued application of the Association Agreement despite repeated breaches of Article 2, which requires respect for human rights, is a betrayal of its own values. It sends a message that humanitarian violations will be tolerated if politics demand it.
IFRD calls on the European Parliament and Member States to reject this path of moral abdication. Suspension of the EU-Israel Agreement is not an option—it is a legal obligation and a moral minimum.
The EU cannot claim to stand for peace, international law, or the rights of civilians while actively maintaining privileged relations with a government that starves and bombs them.
