Europe is getting hurt by the Yemenis’ blockage of the Red Sea, so now they’re starting to express some concern about Israel’s conduct of the war on Gaza. From Finian Cunningham at strategic-culture.su:
The major European states are finally making some noises calling for a ceasefire to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. What’s taken them so long?
The major European states are finally – at long last – making some noises calling for a ceasefire to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. What’s taken them so long?
It’s still pathetically insufficient and falls far short of a full-throated demand on Israel to stop its unbridled slaughter of Palestinians – 20,000 of whom have been killed in more than 70 days of relentless bombardment.
But now Britain, France and Germany are calling for a ceasefire. Well sort of. The British and German foreign ministers David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock wrote a joint article in Britain’s Sunday Times in which they said there needs to be a “sustainable ceasefire” but – bizarrely, they added – not right now.
Their French counterpart Catherine Colonna was a little more forthright. On a visit to Tel Aviv on Sunday, she mustered the conviction to call for an immediate truce.
The slightly stronger French position was presaged by the killing of one of its diplomatic staff in Gaza a few days earlier.
Still, despite the outrage of the killing, the French minister’s words were softly spoken and couched with pandering to Israel’s so-called right to self-defense. Perhaps if the diplomatic staffer who died was a French national instead of being a Palestinian man working for France, then Paris would have been more condemnatory in its response.
Pathetic though the European response is with regard to demanding Israel obey international law and stop massacring civilians, nevertheless the divergence from the U.S. position is notable. Washington is also showing signs of pressure from the international outcry over Israel’s genocide with mealymouthed pleas for “restraint”. However, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration continues to repudiate all calls for a ceasefire and continues unreservedly arming Israel’s killing machine.
