Spain to Urge Immediate Suspension of EU Association Agreement with Israel

Spain to Urge Immediate Suspension of EU Association Agreement with Israel

Spain to Urge Immediate Suspension of EU Association Agreement with Israel
Brussels (Quds News Network)- Spain's Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, announced that he will call on the EU Council to approve the immediate suspension of the association agreement that governs EU-Israel relations, in protest against human rights violations in Gaza amid the ongoing genocide. “It is not the denunciations that are going to stop this inhumane war in Gaza, it is the actions. And I, clearly, am going to put three on the table: the immediate suspension of the association agreement, an embargo on arms sales by the European Union to Israel, and individual sanctions on all those who want to definitively derail the two-state solution,” Albares told reporters on his arrival at the bloc’s Foreign Affairs Council. “The time for words, for statements, is behind us,” he added, urging the EU to have “courage” to take action after the review report presented on Friday by the European External Action Service (EEAS) found “indications” that the Israel would be in breach of their obligations in the association agreement with the EU in terms of human rights with their actions in Gaza. “On the basis of the assessments made by the independent international institutions … there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations,” the audit drafted by the EU’s diplomatic service read. The audit was launched last month in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, in a push backed by 17 states and spearheaded by the Netherlands. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is expected to present the findings of the report to the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. Diplomats have reportedly said that they expect Kallas to propose options on a response to the report during the next foreign ministers’ meeting in July. “We have on the table a report by the High Representative, requested for many months by Spain, which clearly indicates what Spain already knew, that there is a flagrant violation of human rights at this time in Gaza by Israel and that, therefore, that association council between the European Union and Israel, which is precisely based on human rights, is being violated,” Albares said. “The Palestinian Gazans need action and, therefore, the important thing today is not to denounce…we have done it for months. It is not the denunciations that are going to stop this inhumane war in Gaza, it is the actions,” he added.