As the EU is Israel’s largest trade partner, Drissi says it must use this leverage to end its complicity in what experts are increasingly calling genocide [GETTY]
As European Union foreign ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a group of civil society organisations will launch a series of protests to demand its immediate suspension.
WeMove Europe, the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) and Ekō, will be deploying a digital ad van across the Belgian capital and holding a protest to denounce the EU’s complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza.
“This isn’t just a protest, it’s a continental outcry. People across Europe are saying clearly: we don’t want our governments funding genocide,” Hajar Drissi from WeMove Europe told The New Arab.
“As Palestinians are deliberately starved, relentlessly bombarded, and forcibly displaced, the EU’s ongoing political and economic support for Israel makes it complicit in these crimes.”
“Continuing ‘business as usual’ is not only a betrayal of the EU’s laws and values, it goes against the will of hundreds of thousands of European citizens who refuse to be part of this complicity.”
As the EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, Drissi said it must use this leverage to help end Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
Over the weekend, the van will travel around Brussels, particularly near EU institutions, with messages highlighting EU complicity and urging the suspension of the agreement – a deal encompassing political, economic, and trade relations between the two.
On the day of the ministerial meeting on Sunday, protesters will take to the streets of Rue de la Loi, steps away from where the discussions will be held.
Activists who have walked over 300km from Paris to Brussels and participants recently returned from the Global March to Gaza, which was stalled in Egypt and Libya are due to take part in the march.
The groups are calling on the EU and its member states to immediately suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement under Article 2 of the deal, which says respect for human rights is an “essential element” of the agreement.
Activists have highlighted Israel’s conduct in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza as proof of violating the agreement.
The NGOs are also urging the EU to stop all arms exports to Israel and impose sanctions on Israeli officials and settlers responsible for atrocities and the ongoing blockade of Gaza.
“We want to make silence politically dangerous,” Drissi says. “Politicians already know they’re being watched, but they will only act if the cost of inaction becomes too high: to their reputations, their credibility, and their future in office.”
“We want them to feel pressure everywhere: in the streets, in their inboxes, on their phones, in their feeds. Our goal is to make sure they cannot look away.”
The EU on Tuesday agreed to review its trade ties with Israel following mounting atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip, acting after a “strong majority” of its 27 member states backed the move.
