Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee delivered an indictment of Israel on Tuesday, calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Tel Aviv or at the very least halt its trade provisions. Speaking ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, McEntee said Ireland, Spain and Slovenia had jointly written to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas demanding an urgent review of the pact in light of escalating Israeli violations across the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon. “We need to, as an EU, uphold our fundamental values,” McEntee told journalists, stressing that countries with which the bloc has agreements must comply with international law and human rights obligations.
She specifically cited Israel’s recent death penalty bill, which she noted disproportionately targets Palestinians, calling the move “completely unacceptable.” The Irish minister pointed to a growing shift among EU leaders, observing “clear dissatisfaction and annoyance” with Israel’s recent actions, particularly the approval of 34 new illegal settlements in the West Bank and the intensifying violence against Palestinian civilians. “We are witnessing and experiencing an unprecedented and unacceptable escalation of violence in the West Bank,” McEntee said, adding that EU members must respond collectively to have any meaningful impact. On that basis, she said, Ireland, Slovenia and Spain had requested “a suspension of the Israeli agreement, if not, then a suspension of the trade elements” of the deal.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares struck an even more urgent tone, warning that the EU risks losing all credibility if it fails to take stronger action against Israel. “Our credibility is at stake,” Albares said, urging the bloc to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel over what he described as systematic violations of international law. Albares noted that in May 2025 the EU had agreed to review the deal, and a month later the European Commission found “indications” that Israel may be breaching its human rights obligations. Yet no measures were proposed.
Since then, he said, the situation has gotten “much worse.” Turning to Lebanon, Albares condemned what he called “indiscriminate bombing of civilians” and Israeli orders forcing people to leave their homes with no right to return. He also pointed to attacks on UN peacekeepers, including the detention of a Spanish soldier serving with the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon. Albares criticised Israel’s discriminatory application of the death penalty “exclusively to Palestinians” and said that in Gaza there have been “systematic violations” of the ceasefire, with uncertainty over progress toward a second phase.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevost added his voice to the growing chorus, describing Israel’s actions as “totally unacceptable” and calling for stronger EU measures on sanctions and foreign policy. “The reaction of Israel is totally problematic and condemnable,” Prevost said during a doorstep statement at the European Convention Centre in Luxembourg. He said Israel’s military response across the Middle East was “disproportionate and indiscriminate.” Prevost questioned whether the EU’s current approach of maintaining an “equidistant position” between parties in some conflicts remains effective, suggesting that stronger measures, including sanctions, may be necessary.
On Palestine, he confirmed that Belgium has called for a partial suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, citing concerns over settlement expansion and rising violence, and arguing that these developments raise fundamental questions regarding EU values and commitments. While acknowledging that a full suspension may be out of reach given the divergent views among member states, Prevost insisted that the EU must at least “raise the tone” on sanctions to be able to “weigh on the debate.”
Despite the impassioned pleas from Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium, the EU remains deeply divided. Germany and Italy on Tuesday rebuffed calls to suspend the cooperation deal with Israel, with Berlin reportedly describing the proposal as “inappropriate.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani argued that suspending the agreement would be counterproductive and would not serve the cause of peace. The opposition from the bloc’s two largest economies effectively blocked any immediate action, exposing the limits of the pro‑sanctions coalition.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, while emphasising the need for a Palestinian‑led political process, stopped short of endorsing the suspension call. For now, the Association Agreement remains in place, but the pressure is mounting. UN experts have called for the immediate suspension of the EU‑Israel trade pact as the “minimum requirement” under international law, noting that a European Citizens’ Initiative on the matter has collected more than one million signatures.
Beyond the EU’s internal debates, Israel faces growing legal pressure from other quarters. Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, has announced that his country will execute International Criminal Court warrants, including the arrest warrant issued for Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2024 over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza. This marks a dramatic reversal from Hungary’s previous refusal to act on the warrant during Netanyahu’s April 2025 visit under the former Orban government.
Meanwhile, Turkey has filed a sweeping indictment against Netanyahu and 34 other senior Israeli officials over the armed interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian aid mission bound for Gaza. Turkish prosecutors have charged the officials with genocide, crimes against humanity, torture, looting and unlawful detention, and are seeking prison terms of up to 4,596 years. The indictment describes the operation against the flotilla not as an isolated action but as a “planned, systematic” act of aggression.
The EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg has laid bare the deep fissures within the bloc over how to respond to Israel’s actions. While Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium push for meaningful sanctions and a suspension of the Association Agreement, Germany and Italy remain firmly opposed, and other member states are either undecided or silent. The credibility of the European Union as a defender of human rights and international law hangs in the balance. As McEntee put it, “We need to be decisive.”