Two weeks ago, on Saturday 7 October, I was hoping to have a quiet day after a trip to Ukraine, where we held an informal EU Foreign Affairs Council. But early in the morning came the news of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel and the killing of many Israeli civilians in the Gaza vicinity. I had a similar feeling on the morning of 24 of February 2022, when Russia started invading Ukraine. We were going to face another decisive moment in history, creating great human suffering and defining EU’s global role for years to come. 

Two weeks of intense work on the current crisis

Since then I have devoted most of my time and energy to the conflict triggered by this Hamas's appalling terrorist attack on Israel. We issued on Sunday a statement of the 27 member states of the EU and during our meeting in Oman on October 10, we found a joint position with the Gulf Cooperation Council, followed that same day by an extraordinary informal Foreign Affairs council where we further defined our common position. Last Tuesday, we discussed intensively the issue in an extraordinary European Council, followed by a plenary debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday.

This conflict was also at the centre of the EU-US summit in Washington on Friday, in which I participated with Council President Michel and EC President von der Leyen, and of the Cairo Peace Summit on Saturday, where I accompanied Council President Michel. We will also take stock of what the EU stands for, what it is doing and what it could do in the future during our Foreign Affairs Council today in Luxembourg. As already said during the previous events mentioned, I will explain that we must act on the basis of four principles: firmness, humanity, coherence, and proactive political commitment.

Firmness begins with the clear condemnation of Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. It killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and more than 200 persons were taken hostage. 1,400 dead in Israel would be equivalent to 67,000 dead in the EU. Hamas wanted to kill as many Jewish people as possible in a sort of djihadist pogrom, the most massive loss of life the country has suffered since its creation. If confirmation was needed that Hamas is a terrorist organization, its recent actions provide it.

Hamas wanted to kill as many Jewish people as possible in a sort of djihadist pogrom. If confirmation was needed that Hamas is a terrorist organization, its recent actions provide it.

As President Biden said during his speech to the US nation, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the pain that people want to inflict to others. During my visit in Ukraine, few days ago, I was in Babi Yar, where in 1941 the Nazis shot 33 771 Jews. I paid tribute to their memory. As I told the Rabbi in charge of keeping the flame of remembrance alive, nothing is more hateful than killing a human being simply because he or she belongs to a different ethnic group or religion. In Europe, after our sad experiences, we have made of this principle one of our raisons d’être.

The need to abide to international law

The second principle is that of humanity. Israel – of course – has the right to defend itself. But, as with all rights, this right has its limits: the ones set by international law and, in particular, international humanitarian law. The cutting off of water and electricity supplies and the pressure on civilians to leave their homes is against international law.

Hamas shouldn’t be confused with the Palestinian people and the civilian population of Gaza cannot be held collectively responsible for its criminal actions.

Such norms apply regardless of the identity of the victim or perpetrator. Hamas shouldn’t be confused with the Palestinian people and the civilian population of Gaza cannot be held collectively responsible for its criminal actions. We are aligned with our American allies on this issue: President Biden has also stressed to the Israeli government the critical need for Israel to abide by the laws of the war.

We immediately condemned the appalling Hamas’ terrorist attack in the strongest terms, calling also for an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. But the tragic loss of Palestinian lives is also heart-breaking. Let's not forget that failure to recognize people as human beings is always the prelude to the worst kind of violence. We cannot ignore the humanity of Palestinians civilians who also want to live in peace. Several thousand people a big part of them children have already lost their lives. We are mourning the Israelis who lost their life in horrible circumstances. We mourn also Palestinian children who are innocent victims of this conflict.

We are mourning the Israelis who lost their life in horrible circumstances. We mourn also Palestinian children who are innocent victims of this conflict.

Speaking out against one tragedy should not prevent us from speaking out against another. The moral strength to condemn one thing allows – and obliges – us to condemn another, carried out in another place, by other people. Otherwise we will be useless when it comes to resolving the conflict.

The Commission has decided to multiply by three our humanitarian aid to Gaza. It should be delivered quickly. But this humanitarian aid has to get into Gaza and it is still for the moment a difficult challenge. We have worked intensively during the last week with the UN, the US and our partners in the region to make it possible. Ahead of the Cairo Summit on Saturday, the 20 first trucks were allowed to enter Gaza. This is a first step but much more humanitarian aid would be needed, each day, to cover the basic needs of the civilian population in the enclave. And fuel to run the desalination plants and the power stations should also be included. Hospitals cannot work without water or electricity.

Don’t believe fake news regarding our aid to the Palestinian people

Regarding more generally our aid to the Palestinian people, it has been said sometime that it is being used to finance Hamas. It is simply not true. We are monitoring very precisely where our funds go and they go to cover the basic needs of the Palestinian population. We are ready to review it one more time, and the Commission will do this review. But Europeans should not tolerate false accusations nor disseminate fake news that undermine our difficult work on the ground, as it happened during last week’s debate at the European Parliament.   

The need for political coherence

The third principle that must guide our action is that of political coherence. We cannot appear divided on such a sensitive issue. The EU’s position was drawn up at the extraordinary informal Foreign Affairs Council that I had convened in Oman on October 10 and confirmed by the extraordinary European Council last Tuesday: “we condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israel and the Israeli people. We affirm that Israel has the right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law. And the European Union has mobilised to provide humanitarian support to the most vulnerable people, to those who are most at risk. We are also committed to a peace process for a lasting peace based on a two-state solution, and therefore based on support for the Palestinian Authority.” There is no other EU position and all these sentences are part of this position.

It is important to make clarity on this because during my intense contacts of the last weeks, many Arab leaders and other interlocutors have shared the perception that the EU has double standards, particularly in view of our strong stance on Ukraine relative to our perceived positions on Israel and Palestine. This criticism was already present before October 7, during our discussions about the Russian aggression against Ukraine. But it has become much stronger since then. Both conflicts are very different in nature, but they are indeed related when it comes to their geopolitical consequences.

Our attachment to values and norms should leave no room for the criticism of “double standards”. And we need to counter it by our words and deeds.

Our attachment to values and norms should leave no room for this type of criticism. And we need to be able to counter it by our words and deeds. Otherwise, Russia will take advantage of it against Ukraine. In particular we need to reach a common position on the votes on the resolutions presented in the UN Security Council or UN General Assembly in coming days.

A proactive commitment to resolve the underlying conflict

The fourth principle is that of a proactive commitment to resolve this conflict.

We have first of course to try to prevent a regional spill over to Lebanon and other neighbouring countries, which would destabilise the entire Middle East region as well as affect Europe. During the last days, I have had many contacts with all relevant regional actors and we have worked with the UN and the US on this issue. We need also to look for an urgent solution for the status of Gaza.

But we must also address the underlying conflict. Until now, we must admit that we have not been very effective. I was in Gaza after it was bombed in 2008 and this is the fourth major war in Gaza I have had to deal with. And if we don’t stop this cycle of violence, it will happen again in the future. The level of trust between Israeli and Palestinian, which was already extremely low in recent years, is now at the level of the Dead Sea. Fear and hatred of the other dominate, collectively and individually.

For too long we have tried to dismiss the Palestinian issue as if it no longer existed or as if it would resolve itself.

We are entering a new phase in the hundred year old Israeli-Palestinian tragedy. It could be a very dangerous one for global peace and the international community must mobilise to avoid it. For too long we have tried to dismiss the Palestinian issue as if it no longer existed or as if it would resolve itself.

The international community, which we are part of, did not do what should have been done to implement the Oslo Accords, which are now 30 years old. Since Oslo, the number of Israeli settlers has multiplied threefold in the occupied territories, while the possible Palestinian state has been cut back into a labyrinth of not interconnected areas. Every day we call for a two-state solution, but as the Palestinian representative told me during the UN General Assembly: ‘Apart from calling for it, what are you doing to get it?’  

The most difficult decisions are always taken on the edge of the abyss. And we are now there. The two-state solution remains the only viable one we know. We must put all our political energy into achieving it.

Peace will not come by itself; it has to be built. The most difficult decisions are always taken on the edge of the abyss. And we are now there. How distant and difficult this solution may seem, the two-state solution remains the only viable one we know. And if we only have one solution, we must put all our political energy into achieving it.

With EU Special Representative Koopmans, we had already worked during the last year together with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Arab League to help revive the Middle East Peace Process and the Two State Solution. After the recent events, this approach needs of course to be profoundly recalibrated. We will intensify our effort, together with our partners in the region and beyond.

The way we deal with this crisis will define the EU’s credibility and global role for years to come.