European Parliament Passed Non-binding Statement on the Israel-Gaza Conflict
January 19, 2024—Israel’s war with Hamas and its destruction of Gaza has divided the European Union. The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a watered-down resolution calling for a ceasefire, the dismantling of Hamas, and the unconditional release of the remaining hostages.
The resolution is non-binding and largely symbolic. The Parliament passed it with 312 votes in favor, 131 against, and 72 abstentions.
What’s noteworthy is not the vote or the individual phrases in it. It is that the resolution is too long-winded to have an impact. It thwarts itself at every turn.
It calls for a permanent ceasefire and then says Israel has “a right to defend itself.”
It calls on all parties to “distinguish between combatants and civilians” but doesn’t warn about the consequences for not doing so.
It calls for an end to “the occupation of the Palestinian territories” without demanding a timeline for ending it.
Changes that ‘Watered Down’ the Ceasefire
Conservative lawmakers added language to the original resolution to demand that hostages be “immediately and unconditionally released and (that) the terrorist organization Hamas is dismantled.”
Several members said the effect was a “watering down” of the call for an end to the violence.
Irish MEP Clare Daly said the addition is “precisely the same preconditions as Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded,” in effect allowing the killing to continue.
“For three months now, we have cheered on and provided cover for Israel as it has exterminated tens of thousands of children,” Daly said.
Italian MEP Piernicola Pedicini said Israel used “the very words of” European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen regarding defense to justify killing of 24,000 people in Gaza, many of them children.
“Not even in the face of tens of thousands of children massacred in Gaza, we were able to make a useful decision,” Pedicini said. “So we must not say what Israel must do, we must say what the European Union must stop doing: it must stop supporting these war criminals.”
Too Many Points to Make a Point
The resolution included too many points—10 statements and 24 assertions—to make a point.
Nevertheless, it did establish a record of the conflict, the humanitarian crisis, the key players, the atrocities to date, and European sentiments. It includes the following:
- A condemnation of Hamas for the October 7 attack, violence, and hostage-taking. Like the United Kingdom and the United States, the EU considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
- It noted Israel’s response, which killed over 23,000 people in Gaza, 10,000 of which were children, and injured 60,000 others.
- It said Israeli authorities cut off the water to Gaza on October 7.
- It observes that Israel has complete control of the entry and exit points to the Gaza Strip, including at the Egyptian border, and noted that 100 percent of the population now suffers from acute food insecurity while 50 percent face “extreme lack of food and starvation.”
- It notes that Israel has denied entry to Gaza of ” essential items, including medical equipment and solar panels.”
- It “recalls that Israel has a right to defend itself within the limits of international law.”
- It asks for a de-escalation of regional tensions.
- It “welcomes the US-led ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ actions against the Houthis over shipping in the Red Sea.
The full resolution is available here.
