Israel’s warning shots to EU delegation visiting refugees seen as escalation

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Tension keeps rising between Europe and Israel, after European governments called for a review of the partnership agreement with Tel Aviv and on Wednesday the European Parliament held its first debate on Gaza since the Netanyahu government announced the annexation of the Strip.

Brussels and the European capitals reacted firmly to the Israeli army’s attack on a delegation visiting the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, who were driven away by warning shots fired into the air. About 30 diplomats from European and other countries, among them Italy’s deputy consul in Jerusalem Alessandro Tutino, were forced to flee. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas demanded an investigation to identify those responsible, stressing that under the international conventions “any threat to the lives of diplomats is unacceptable.”

The Israeli military tried to justify their actions by claiming the convoy had taken an “unauthorized route”. That version was denied by Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot, who wrote on social media that he was “shocked” to hear of the incident because it was “an official visit to Jenin, coordinated with the Israeli army.” Belgium has demanded a “convincing explanation,” a request unlikely to be satisfied by Tel Aviv’s justifications. Even an apology from the Israeli side would amount to admitting an act with few precedents, particularly serious because it deliberately targeted members of the diplomatic corps.

More demands for explanations and formal steps came from other chancelleries. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summoned Israeli ambassador Jonathan Peled, calling the threats aimed at diplomats “unacceptable”. His French and Spanish counterparts did the same in Paris and Madrid.

The suspicion doing the rounds in EU circles is that the Jenin incident was retaliation for the Union’s new stance. The timing and precedents do match up: Israeli forces have previously struck EU-funded infrastructure as intimidation.

This time, however, the target was people: an obvious escalation. “This is disturbing news, showing how emboldened Israel feels by the culture of impunity it has enjoyed so far,” commented Left MEP Lynn Boylan, head of the European Parliament’s EU-Palestine delegation, to il manifesto. “Against this unacceptable attack we need strong sanctions on Tel Aviv, which continues to violate international law and carry out genocidal attacks in Gaza and the West Bank.”

At the same time as the attack, the European Parliament in Brussels was in session to debate Netanyahu’s decision to occupy Gaza and the need to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the Strip. This long-awaited debate proved to have no teeth in the end: it ended without even a final vote on a motion, and no Commission member with attributions on the issue was present.

A lot of the discussion was about the request on Wednesday from a majority of European governments that the Commission review the partnership with Israel. But Left co-chair Manon Aubry reminded the chamber: “It took a year and a half of constant bombing, starvation as a weapon of war, the death of thousands of children before our relations with Israel were finally questioned.”

S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez insisted on the need “to suspend, not simply review, the partnership with Israel.” The Spanish Socialist put forward proposals mirroring those just approved by Madrid’s parliament: a total arms embargo, a ban on trade with settlements and sanctions on senior members of the Netanyahu government.

The loudest applause during the session came for the guest of honour, Slovenian president Nataša Pirc Musar. “Let me be frank: we are witnessing genocide in Gaza, yet we remain silent,” she said on the floor.

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Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/lattacco-alla-delegazione-fa-infuriare-le-cancellerie-ue on 2025-05-22