More than 200 former European Union diplomats and ambassadors have signed a public letter urging urgent action over Israel’s war in Gaza and its crimes in the West Bank, warning that the bloc risks losing credibility if it fails to respond.
The letter, published on Tuesday, was signed by 209 former EU ambassadors, senior diplomatic staff, and ambassadors from EU member states. It set out nine possible measures, including suspending arms export licenses, banning trade in goods and services linked to Israeli settlements, and preventing European data centers from receiving, storing, or processing data from Israeli cabinet or commercial sources if it relates to Israel’s “presence and activities in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied territories.”
If the EU will not act collectively, member states must take steps individually or in smaller groups to support human rights and uphold international law, the letter said.
Among the signatories are 110 former ambassadors, 25 former director generals, and two of the EU’s most senior former officials: Alain Le Roy, former secretary general of the European External Action Service, and Carlo Trojan, former secretary general of the European Commission.
“This struck a chord,” said Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, former EU representative to the Palestinian territories and part of a six-member steering group coordinating the initiative launched in mid-July.
It is the third such public appeal and the first to call for unilateral action by EU states if collective measures fail. A proposal to suspend Israel from the Horizon research fund over Gaza collapsed in late July.
“There is such dismay now within the institutions, people are saying enough is enough,” Kühn von Burgsdorff said.
“We can’t stay paralyzed if the 27 (member states) can’t take action, that betrays our values. So we have proposed nine actions that can be taken at the state level or by groups of states.”
“European governments are losing credibility not just in the global south but with our own citizens, in every member state,” he added, citing polling from his native Germany, showing that 80% of the population oppose Israel’s crimes in Gaza and two-thirds want Berlin to act.
Sources: News websites
