On Thursday 26 April, South African professor John Dugard, who was formerly the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, called on the EU and its member states to take distance from Israel due to Israel's actions towards the Palestinians.
"The EU must stop collaborating with Israel. South Africa has been subject to sanctions of all types (due to apartheid). Israel has a similar policy, but what the EU does is have an association agreement with the country. The collaboration needs to come to an end. If it did, it would have a major impact", he said at a hearing at the European Parliament on the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip.
"It is important for the EU to start to show more courage in facing up to Israel, if it doesn't want to be accused of collusion", Dugard said. In his view, this lack of courage is due to the fact that Europeans did not want to disagree with the USA, were influenced by pro-Israeli lobbies and that some of them still had a feeling of guilt linked to the Shoah and were afraid that any criticism of Israel might be charged with anti-semitism.
Dugard wanted the EU to support Palestine – which has lodged a complaint under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity – and indeed wanted the member states themselves to lodge a complaint.
The same goes for the ongoing procedures at the International Criminal Court (ICC). "The Israeli system is not capable of providing justice (Ed: in the crimes against Palestinians) (...) Serious crimes are committed and nobody is responsible", stated Mahmoud Abu Rahma, from the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip. "In the interest of justice and peace, the EU should focus on rights in Gaza, and help in the ICC-led investigations", he said. "If the member states want to avoid being accused of complicity, they should speak in favour of the prosecution of Israel in international courts or in private discussions. The ICC prosecutor should have the courage to engage in proceedings (at the ICC), but only if the member states support him", Dugard added.
In his view, the EU member states should claim for compensation from Israel when it destroys the fruit of projects financed by these member states, and if Israel refuses this, the member states should appeal for arbitration. Although some member states and the EU as an institution have already started steps in this direction, none of them have succeeded (see EUROPE 11891).
Asked about the possible transfer of the Romanian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Dugard said this "needed all the attention of the EU as an authority, that it was appropriate to say that this runs counter to the EU's policy on human rights".
Édouard Martin MEP (S&D, France) supported Dugard's ideas and spoke out against the "hypocrisy" of the EU and the member states. "They need to be tackled on the legal aspects because on moral discourse this is not making any progress", he said, adding that the member states could be prosecuted for war crimes. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)