‘Very clear majority but not unanimity’ in EU for Gaza ceasefire – Varadkar
The Taoiseach made the comments after an EU summit concluded.
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Your support makes all the difference.Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said there is a “very clear majority” but not unanimity in the EU for a ceasefire in Gaza, a day after saying the bloc had “lost credibility” on the issue.
He said the 27 nations had decided against wording on the Israel-Palestine conflict that “nobody would have been happy with”.
He was speaking at the end of a two-day EU summit that saw an agreement to begin accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova, and a proposal to send a 50 billion euro aid package to Ukraine vetoed by Hungary.
Mr Varadkar said on the way into the talks that he did not agree with the rationale that a ceasefire would prevent Israel from pursuing Hamas.
It's clear to me that the American position is shifting too and that's significant, but I know a lot of people in the room, certainly those of us who are in the majority who want there to be a ceasefire, didn't feel we should have to wait for the Americans to call for a ceasefire before Europe does
He said the EU also needed to be stronger on pushing for a two-state solution, adding that the political and economic weight of the bloc needed to go into the issue.
It comes after a UN General Assembly vote in which the vast majority of countries voted for an immediate ceasefire in the region. Austria, Germany and the UK abstained on the vote, while the US voted against it.
Speaking at the end of the summit, Mr Varadkar said: “If we had tried to have written conclusions, we would have been here for many, many hours, and probably have only come up with compromise wording that nobody would have been happy with.”
He added: “It wasn’t an angry discussion. It was a genuine strategic debate. but it was my view, and the view of others, that if we couldn’t get unanimity on calling for a ceasefire, there was no point in coming up with some sort of interim language, rolling truces or on and off pauses.
“So the position of the overwhelming majority of the EU countries now is that there should be a ceasefire and everyone unanimous around a two-state solution and we’re working towards a package of restrictions on violent settlers (and) sanctions on Hamas and Hamas finance.
“It’s clear to me that the American position is shifting too and that’s significant, but I know a lot of people in the room, certainly those of us who are in the majority who want there to be a ceasefire, didn’t feel we should have to wait for the Americans to call for a ceasefire before Europe does.”
Mr Varadkar had previously said he did not agree that a ceasefire would prevent Israel from pursuing Hamas terrorists.
The Irish premier said that Israel has a right to defend itself, but Ireland differed with other countries on the meanings of “ceasefire” and “proportionate response”.
He said: “To me, a ceasefire does not mean that you can’t pursue individual terrorists and terrorist leaders who perpetrated attack against your country – I would never ask any country not to do that.
“To me, it does mean that you can’t blow up schools and hospitals and residential areas, force civilians out of their homes and deny them food and water. That’s not a proportionate response, That’s wrong.”
He said that High Representative Josep Borrell, supported by Ursula von der Leyen, is to draw up a list of Israeli settlers who may be subjected to restrictions on coming to the EU or dealing with the bloc.
He added: “we’re not talking about sanctions on the state of Israel, we’re talking about sanctions on illegal, violent settlers in the West Bank who are killing Palestinians, knocking down their schools and driving them off their land – and nobody who honestly believes in a two-state solution can say that we’re just going to do nothing at all about that.”
Mr Varadkar said Ireland would not impose sanctions on the settlers unilaterally, but would be open to doing so with a group of member states.
He added: “Ideally, we’d have unanimity and we would all do this. But it would be possible for a group of member states to go ahead and do it without unanimity, but we will always work unanimity.”
He also said the EU is examining ways to take “action” against individuals and organisations involved in financing Hamas, which is itself subject to sanctions due to its designation as a terrorist organisation.
On the first day of the summit, Mr Varadkar said that he would tell EU leaders that the bloc had “lost credibility” on its position on Israel-Palestine.
He said this credibility had been lost with the Global South “because what is perceived to be double standards, and there’s some truth in that quite frankly” as well as with young people.