🧵Tracking Western government reactions to ICC arrest warrants against Israeli leaders Netanyahu and Gallant and Hamas leader Deif.
🇪🇺EU foreign policy chief: the decisions are binding for all ICC member states incl. all EU countries
Media coverage has (rightly) focused on Israel's failure to provide evidence of its allegations. That's indeed the main takeaway.
But there's a 2nd layer to the story: Colonna's bias and bending to Israel's & Western donors' politics.
That's visible if you compare Colonna's report with the underlying report by the 3 Nordic research institutes that worked with her on the review (posted here: ). Colonna's report is based on the researchers' report but differs significantly. passblue.com/wp-content/upl…
Apr 6 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Outrage in Poland over Israel's killing of Polish aid worker in Gaza. Government demands:
- international investigation with PL participation
- Polish prosecutor to participate in criminal procedure against responsible Israeli soldiers
- compensation for aid worker's relatives
🧵
Polish defence minister: “We demand an international investigation into the case, we demand that Poland also participate in the investigation… which resulted in the death of our compatriot.” tvpworld.com/76791416/polis…
Jan 26 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
🧵Listing government reactions to the ICJ order for provisional measures on Gaza today (will limit this to European & Western govts) 👇
🇪🇺EU: "Orders of the ICJ are binding on the Parties and they must comply with them. The EU expects their full, immediate and effective implementation." eeas.europa.eu/eeas/icj-joint…
Jan 25 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
🧵How will Western gov'ts respond to ICJ's expected order for "provisional measures" on Gaza tomorrow?
Let's look at precedents.
In the Myanmar, Ukraine & Syria cases at ICJ, Western states stressed that ICJ provisional measures are binding and must be fully implemented.
A. MYANMAR (the closest precedent).
1) EU response to ICJ provisional measures:
"Myanmar must now fully implement the provisional measures of the Court’s order (...). The implementation of the provisional measures is compulsory under international law."
Oct 21, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Hundreds of professional civil servants in Western governments are expressing disagreement with their political leaders' one-sided support for Israel's Gaza offensive.
See cases in this thread:
- US State Department
- European Commission
- Dutch MFA
This is unprecedented. 👇
US State Dept officials are preparing a dissent cable over Biden's Israel-Palestine policy. “There’s basically a mutiny brewing within State at all levels,” one official said. huffpost.com/entry/state-de…
Mar 21, 2023 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
🧵1) The @EURightsAgency (FRA) is conducting a large new survey of perceptions of antisemitism among 1000s of Jewish Europeans. But there's a very problematic bias in some of the questions, based on the controversial IHRA definition. Have a look >>
2) The survey asks whether respondents encountered various "forms of antisemitism", incl.:
- "Denying Israel the right to exist as a State"
- "Comparing Israel's policy to the Nazi policy"
- "Applying double standards to Israel's gov't when comparing to other democratic States"
Mar 9, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
New op-ed by EU's @JosepBorrellF: "Honesty Can Advance the Middle East Peace Process" 👇
🧵My quick comment:
Yes, honesty is necessary for peace. But this op-ed falls far short of an honest assessment. 1/7 project-syndicate.org/commentary/isr…
True, there are 2 very small elements of honesty here that usually lack in official EU statements.
1) Acknowledging inequality of the "two sides", which the EU does very rarely - though short of full honesty that there's an occupier/coloniser and the occupied/colonised. 2/7
Nov 28, 2022 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
Dear @kschnurbein, let me give you a few examples of how the IHRA definition is actually being used to chill legitimate free speech and activism. 🧵
Do you really call this “democracy”, “counter-speech” and “not politicisation”?
🧵A few thoughts on Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian NGOs & the EU-Israel Association Council planned for October, the 1st one in 10 yrs.
Most EU states are against conditioning the AC on developments on the ground. But this is a particular embarrassment for EU, for 3 reasons:
1) Israel raided & shut down the NGO offices exactly a month after EU ministers gave green light to hold the AC on 18 July. I.e. Israel moved against the NGOs while knowing the EU prep process for the AC was underway.
2) The crackdown targets NGOs funded by EU & member states.
Jul 13, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
UN double standards: UN chief @antonioguterres once again didn't include Israeli forces in annual UN “list of shame” for violations against children in armed conflict - despite reporting that they killed 78 Palestinian children & injured 982 in 2021. @hrwhrw.org/news/2022/07/1…
“Year after year Israeli government forces have gotten away with committing serious crimes against children, with virtual impunity; the secretary-general needs to hold the Israeli government to the same standard as any other warring party.” @AdrianneLaparwashingtonpost.com/world/un-to-mo…
Jul 12, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A short thread on the significance of this statement: 1) The 9 countries involved are ALL the EU states directly concerned as donors - those that have given funds to some of the 6 Palestinian NGOs designated by Israel (directly or through other NGOs).
2) These states have received various documents from Israel meant to prove its allegations. After a lengthy scrutiny, NONE of them found it convincing. Therefore, they'll continue supporting the NGOs.
Jun 21, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
This piece by Jerusalem Post's @LahavHarkov about the new EU-funded report on Palestinian textbooks is itself a textbook example of disinformation, totally misleading the readers about what the report says. Consider just a few examples: jpost.com/diaspora/antis…
Contrary to the headline, the report concludes "the textbooks adhere to UNESCO standards" - mentioned nowhere in the article! It doesn't claim "incitement" & found just 1 chapter in 1 textbook (across 150+ reviewed textbooks) w/ antisemitic motifs - which has since been altered.
Jun 18, 2021 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
Georg Eckert Institute has just released its study of Palestinian textbooks, funded by the EU. A few early observations & comments:
1) The study significantly tempers the exaggerated allegations that Palestinian textbooks promote hatred & violence.
gei.de/en/departments…2) These claims are continually made by Israeli org IMPACT-se & repeated by ideologically aligned orgs & politicians in Europe and the US.
The study says IMPACT-se reports are "marked by generalising and exaggerated conclusions based on methodological shortcomings."
Oct 16, 2019 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
EU is starting a new 2-year €1.5m project to help Israel develop its waste management policy. And there are some serious questions to ask about it @eu_israel. It risks contributing to Israel's illegal settlements & exploitation of the West Bank. THREAD /1 webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/onli…
In the "twinning project", the EU will assist Israel's environment ministry (led by pro-annexation minister Zeev Elkin) to develop its waste management legislation, strategy and practices. It foresees building a network of waste-to-energy incinerators across the country. /2
