After almost two years of committing genocide, Israel’s security remains paramount for the EU

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has just woken up to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, thanks to the necessity of giving the State of the Union speech. Only she does not call it a genocide – the EC’s term is “what is happening in Gaza”.

And the list of what is happening in Gaza, according to von der Leyen, is so short it only relates to weaponised humanitarian aid. “Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children for the sake of humanity – this must stop,” von der Leyen declared.

While since October 2023, 393 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza, 64,522 Palestinians have been killed in the same period. The discrepancy reflects the wider picture of genocide which von der Leyen refuses to reference. Humanitarian aid is always the easiest issue to tackle rhetorically, because both the impact of starvation and the images of food packages create unrest and ease the mind of the detached observer. It also allows the Europe to maintain its strong support for Israel, as evidenced by von der Leyen’s later remarks regarding the two-state paradigm and Israel’s security narrative.

For example, von der Leyen asserts herself as a “long-standing friend of the people of Israel” and counts the days that Israelis have been taken hostages by Hamas – “700 days of pain and suffering”. Those 700 days of pain and suffering are also 700 days of massacres, burnt to death, blasted to bits in the sky, brains reeking out, buried alive and countless other atrocities inflicted on Palestinians by Israel’s West-supported genocide.

“There can never be any place for Hamas – neither now nor in the future. Because they are terrorists who want to destroy Israel. And they are also inflicting terror on their own people,” von der Leyen remarked. Hamas is not committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Decolonisation is enshrined by the UN, even if the international institution has failed to endorse it for Palestinians. Israel’s destruction – decolonisation – is not the terror the EU forces the world to believe it is. Rather it is a process of restoration – restoring land and rights to the colonised population. Many Palestinians have advocated for a single democratic state with equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis – the West has completely ignored this position. Hamas exists out of necessity. If Palestinians were true participants in their political process, even the Palestinians Authority would no longer exist. But the EU needs the PA for its two-state hyperbole, because no other Palestinian political entity performs a propaganda role as well as the PA.

According to von der Leyen, the two-state paradigm is “the only realistic peace plan”. She goes on to define this “with a secure Israel, a viable Palestinian Authority and the scourge of Hamas removed.” She added, “This is what Europe has always stood for.”

But let us see what Europe has really stood for, as evidenced by Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Taking almost two years to debate on punitive measures for Israel in response to the genocide which the EU still fails to acknowledge. Upholding the two-state compromise knowing that it only serves Israel’s ongoing colonisation plans. One cannot help but ask, where are the Palestinians in the EU’s defunct stance on a defunct two-state paradigm?

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250911-after-almost-two-years-of-committing-genocide-israels-security-remains-paramount-for-the-eu/