EU prime ministers have vowed to step up their efforts to mitigate a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a bid to present a united diplomatic front after a week of dysfunction and mixed messages from leaders in Brussels.
After an emergency video conference to address the conflagration in the Middle East, the European Council leader, Charles Michel, stressed the need to present “a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation”.
Tuesday’s talks were preceded by a statement by EU leaders on Sunday strongly condemning Hamas’s “terrorist attacks” while mentioning “the importance to ensure the protection of all civilians at all times” and the need for Israel to comply with international law.
Michel spoke of the need to use all the leverage the EU could muster to help the hostages held by Hamas and to persuade Egypt to approve a humanitarian corridor for aid and refugees.
After terrorist attacks in Belgium and France, a heightened concern about the return of hate crime and speech was also a priority, said Michel.
“We need also to cooperate at the European Union’s level to try to defuse the tensions; to try to prevent the security risks and also to strengthen the cooperation between our security services,” he said.
This meant fighting against hate speech, antisemitism “and all other forms of hatred, Islamophobia and all the speeches that are trying to fuel discrimination among our citizens”, he added.
Michel made his remarks after a joint press conference with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who has been the subject of criticism over her failure to emphasis Israel’s obligation to comply with international law while defending itself.
She told reporters that she had made this very clear “in front of the leader of the Knesset” on a visit to the scene of a terrorist attack in a kibbutz when she visited Israel last Saturday.
“I said very clearly that it is Hamas who are the terrorists, not the Palestinian people. So we have to care for the Palestinian people and their humanitarian needs,” she said.
“It is no contradiction in standing with Israel in solidarity and acting for the humanitarian needs for the Palestinians.”
She added that the EU was tripling its humanitarian aid budget to NGOs in the region.
Different communication approaches, perhaps the cause of some of the discord in the EU in the past week, were still visible when the two presidents were asked by Reuters if they agreed with Josep Borrell’s assessment last week that Israel’s decision to cut off water and supplies to Gaza was a breach of international law.
Michel was explicit that it “was not in line with the international law” but Von der Leyen was less direct. “It was very important to look at the statement we had agreed on today. That is [the] leaders’ statement and it concludes the position of the European Council of which I am a member,” she said.
