The top European diplomat told Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Haim Regev, that he decided to cancel his visit to Israel after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz refused to permit it.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has canceled his planned visit to Israel, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing Israeli media.
Borrell is currently on a regional tour that took him to Egypt and Lebanon for talks on regional tensions over Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
However, the top European diplomat told Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Haim Regev, that he decided to cancel his visit to Israel after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz refused to permit it, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported, according to Anadolu.
Borrell announced his plans to visit Israel from September 14 to 15, but Tel Aviv asked him to postpone the visit to late October, which would come after his term in Brussels concludes.
On Monday while on a visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, Borrell said the future of Gaza concerns the entirety of the Middle East.
“What is happening in Gaza today is another horror. It is not just a matter of defending, it is, I think, a massive violation of human rights,” he told reporters.
EU and Ceasefire
Borell reportedly admitted the limited ability of the EU to enforce a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Israel Refuses to Receive Josep Borrell as EU Considers Sanctions on Ministers
“We can put our political and diplomatic pressure on Israeli authorities, but our capacity is limited. We do what we can. The US also is doing what it can, but something goes wrong here,” the EU foreign policy chief said.
“I don’t understand why the ceasefire has still not been reached. Someone is procrastinating,” he added.
Borrell has been under Israeli fire over his call for imposing sanctions on far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over their hate messages against Palestinians.
International Law Disregarded
The European diplomat expressed his outrage on Thursday over Israeli airstrikes on a UN-run school which killed at least 18 people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip a day earlier.
He said on X ‘The disregard of the basic principles of IHL, especially protection of civilians, cannot & should not be accepted by the int. Community.”
Last month, he described statements made by Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as “incitement to war crimes.”
Outraged by the killing of 6 @UNRWA staffers after IL strikes hit – for the 5th time – a school in Nuseirat sheltering 12,000 displaced people
The disregard of the basic principles of IHL, especially protection of civilians, cannot & should not be accepted by the int. community.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) September 12, 2024
“While the World pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza, Min. Ben Gvir calls for cutting fuel & aid to civilians,” Borrell said on X. “Like Min. Smotrich sinister statements, this is an incitement to war crimes.”
Ben-Gvir had said on X that the transfer of humanitarian aid and fuel should be stopped “until all our abductees are returned home.”
In March, Borrell accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon against Palestinians by preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into war-torn Gaza.
“Gaza was before the (Israeli) war the greatest open-air prison. Today, it is the greatest open-air graveyard,” he said in earlier statements.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
‘Hannibal Directive’ – Israel has Been Killing its Captives since October 7 Itself
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,118 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 95,125 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(Anadolu, PC)
The US and their EU minions hand out sanctions like dealers in Vegas. Why are there no sanctions on Israel for its grostequeries from any natiion, state or entity …anywhere… anytime?
“Ben-Gvir had said on X that the transfer of humanitarian aid and fuel should be stopped “until all our abductees are returned home.” — Translation: let the “abductees” die and kill everyone!