Israel's military actions in Lebanon and Gaza, coupled with a recent Knesset vote to impose the death penalty on Palestinians, have drawn sharp criticism from European lawmakers, with Irish MEP Barry Andrews denouncing the EU's response as "weak and pathetic." During a visit to Beirut last month, Andrews witnessed dire conditions in makeshift shelters housing those displaced by Israeli airstrikes, including people sleeping on dirty mattresses and suffering from infections. He cited worsening humanitarian conditions compared to Israel's 2024 incursion and linked the crisis to deep cuts in international aid. Andrews, who chairs the European Parliament's development committee, called for the EU to revive sanctions against Israel, citing not only the Lebanon offensive but also state-backed settler violence in the West Bank and attacks on medical personnel in Gaza. The Knesset's approval of the death penalty for Palestinians—exempting Jewish extremists—has been condemned by the European Commission as "very concerning" and by the Council of Europe as "a legal anachronism incompatible with contemporary human rights standards."
The EU, despite its €68bn trade relationship with Israel under their association agreement, has taken no concrete action beyond verbal condemnation. Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, the EU's former representative to the Palestinian territories, argued that the bloc must suspend the agreement, halt military cooperation, and stop trade with illegal settlements to uphold international law. He warned that continued inaction risks further damaging the EU's global standing. More than 1,240 people, including 124 children, have been killed in Lebanon over the past four weeks, with over 1.1 million displaced. In Gaza, at least 673 additional deaths have occurred since the October ceasefire, bringing the total death toll to 72,260. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had proposed sanctions last September over Israel's blockade of Gaza and settlement expansion, but the measures failed to gain support in the EU council. Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly blocked sanctions, including those targeting extremist settlers.
When Barry Andrews calls the EU's stance "weak and pathetic," he is not just venting—he is exposing a geopolitical paralysis that equates silence with complicity. The EU wields a €68bn trade relationship and diplomatic weight, yet refuses to deploy either, even as Israel advances policies the Council of Europe calls archaic and unlawful. Von der Leyen's failed sanctions bid and Orbán's vetoes reveal a bloc fractured by ideology, not principle. If the EU cannot act when its own officials document war crimes and humanitarian collapse, its moral authority exists only in press releases.
