Opinion

Netanyahu’s hot mic moment

July 22, 2017

It’s common that world leaders chat more freely behind closed doors than they do with their counterparts in public or with the press. Which is what happened when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught on a hot mic criticizing European Union policies toward Israel during a closed-door meeting with East European leaders.

Netanyahu evidently assumed the conversation was off the record but it was instead being broadcast, through headphones, to reporters outside.

His gripe was that the EU was the only major power to attach “political” conditions to its relationship with Israel, condemning it as a “crazy” approach to dealing with his country.

Netanyahu was referring to EU policies that try to place economic pressure on Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories and restart the peace process.

The truth is that the EU has played too nice with Israel. From 2008-2016, the EU offered unconditional upgrades in relations with Israel even as it expressed its deep concern over accelerated settlement expansion. But Israel’s response to new upgrades has often been to deny that continued settlement policies have undermined the peace process. Neither have the upgrades slowed the pace of Israeli demolitions of EU-funded humanitarian projects and the further annexation of Palestinian land.

Far from furthering the prospects of peace, the EU’s existing policy further empowers Israeli occupation. Support only breeds a sense of Israeli exceptionalism and impunity whilst undermining European credibility. The EU’s policy has encouraged Israel’s belief that the conflict can be managed and the settlement initiative expanded without incurring any tangible cost to its international relations.

There is no denying that Israel has often been treated differently from other states. But far from being singled out for punishment, Israel has consistently been treated with a degree of exceptionalism that has shielded it from the full force of international accountability. In doing so, the EU actually protects Israel from the consequences that would otherwise arise as a result of the correct functioning of EU law.

Israel’s disinformation campaign promotes the idea that the EU is picking on Israel while allegedly failing to take similar measures when it comes to other territorial disputes taking place today around the world. In doing so, Israel has argued that the Palestinian territories are disputed rather than occupied, and that, as such, the laws of occupation do not fully apply.

The weight of international opinion leaves little doubt as to the status of Palestinian territory. There exists a near unanimity of international consensus and an accumulative body of legal opinion recognizing the occupied nature of the Palestinian territories and the illegality of Israel’s actions. The state of Palestine has been bilaterally recognized by 136 states and in addition it is a member of international institutions and party to a host of international treaties. No country in the world supports Israeli claims to the Palestinian territories. Nor do the EU, the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice.

Netanyahu should thank his lucky stars that the EU has not taken tougher positions on Israel as it has in response to Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea in which it imposed sanctions on Russian entities, including measures that prohibit EU-based companies from buying real estate and financing Crimean companies, and offering tourism services there.

The EU has held fast to its 2013 funding guidelines on preventing settlement entities from accessing EU funds, and its labeling guidelines for settlement products that say it would be misleading to claim that goods from Palestinian occupied territories were produced in Israel.

But the EU has the ability to do more, to demonstrate clear costs for Israel’s occupation and the maintenance of the status quo. Thus far, the EU and its member states are punching below their collective weight.


July 22, 2017
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