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EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls on US to Stop Supplying Weapons to Israel

Residents evacuate from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
Residents evacuate from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
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EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls on US to Stop Supplying Weapons to Israel

Residents evacuate from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
Residents evacuate from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 12 February 2024. (EPA)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday made a thinly veiled call on the United States to cut arms supplies to Israel due to high civilian casualties in its war in Gaza.

Borrell recalled that US President Joe Biden said last week that Israel's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack had been "over the top" and US and other Western officials had repeatedly said too many civilians were being killed in Gaza.

"Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU development aid ministers in Brussels.

"If the international community believes that this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe we have to think about the provision of arms," he added.

Borrell also noted that a Dutch court on Monday ordered the government of the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used in violations of international law in the Gaza war.

Borrell said it was contradictory for countries to repeatedly declare that Israel was killing too many civilians in Gaza but do nothing concrete to prevent the killing.

Israel has insisted it takes extensive measures to protect civilians but is forced to conduct military operations in civilian areas as Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, operates there.

The United States is Israel's most important foreign arms provider. It gives Israel $3.8 billion in military aid annually, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs. Washington has so far not heeded any pleas to cut such aid.

In his remarks in Brussels, Borrell also sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he was not listening to pleas to do more to protect civilians.

"Everybody goes to Tel Aviv, begging 'please don't do that, protect civilians, don't kill so many'. How many is too many? What is the standard?" Borrell said, appearing angry and emotional. "Netanyahu doesn't listen (to) anyone."

Borrell said Netanyahu had been calling for an evacuation of Palestinian civilians from the Rafah area of Gaza - the last part of the enclave where people have found refuge - but the veteran Spanish politician questioned how this could be done.

"They are going to evacuate? Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate these people?" he said.

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.