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'Unconscionable' for EU to Roll Out Red Carpet for Israeli Foreign Minister, Says Amnesty
"Discussions on the E.U.'s future relationship with Israel should above all be premised on an insistence that Netanyahu and Gallant face justice at the ICC for the crimes they are alleged to have committed."
Feb 21, 2025
Amnesty International is calling out the European Union for planning to welcome Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar to Belgium next Monday even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant face arrest warrants for Israel's genocidal assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The human rights group joined historians, political leaders, and United Nations experts in condemning Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide in December—just two weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) formally issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
"It is unconscionable that the E.U. is rolling out the red carpet for foreign minister Sa'ar whose boss, Prime Minister Netanyahu, is wanted by the ICC," Eve Geddie, director at the Amnesty International European Institutions Office, said in a Thursday statement about the foreign minister's trip to Brussels for an E.U.-Israel Association Council meeting.
"Discussions on the E.U.'s future relationship with Israel should above all be premised on an insistence that Netanyahu and Gallant face justice at the ICC for the crimes they are alleged to have committed, as well as on Israel's adherence to international law and an end to apartheid," Geddie argued. "E.U. leaders must put their commitments to international law, human rights, and the ICC above carefully choreographed diplomatic conferences with Israel."
"E.U. leaders should be deciding what measures to take to prevent the E.U. from aiding Israeli genocide, apartheid, and unlawful occupation instead of brushing these under the carpet for a diplomatic handshake in Brussels."
Geddie also highlighted threats against the ICC, including U.S. President Donald Trump's recent executive order sanctioning the court, which he announced shortly after welcoming Netanyahu to the White House earlier this month. Critics decried the sanctions, which followed the U.S. government—largely under former President Joe Biden—enabling Israel's destruction of Gaza with billions of dollars in military assistance.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said at the time that the "aggressive," "reckless," and "vindictive" order suggests "Trump endorses the Israeli government's crimes and is embracing impunity." She also urged governments and regional organizations to "do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect" of the sanctions.
Geddie said Thursday that "the E.U.'s shameful silence on threats to the ICC and lack of urgent practical mitigating measures which it should have already taken following President Trump's egregious sanctions on the ICC, gives the firm impression that the E.U. has prioritized relations with a government implicated in the commission of genocide and war crimes, over support to an institution which is pursuing individual accountability for these crimes."
"E.U. leaders should be deciding what measures to take to prevent the E.U. from aiding Israeli genocide, apartheid, and unlawful occupation instead of brushing these under the carpet for a diplomatic handshake in Brussels," she concluded.
Amnesty's statement—which captured attention from the Israeli press—comes as the pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) seeks an ICC warrant for Sa'ar over "war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel's ongoing military assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023."
"As Belgium is a signatory to the Rome Statute, it has a legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC and take action against individuals accused of serious international crimes," HRF said Sunday, referring to the treaty that established the court. "The Hind Rajab Foundation calls on Belgian authorities to ensure that Sa'ar does not evade justice while on European soil."
"Allowing a suspected war criminal to visit Brussels unchallenged would be a betrayal of international legal commitments and the fundamental principles of justice," added the group, named for a 5-year-old girl killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza.
A fragile cease-fire and hostage release deal took effect in Gaza last month, but Israel has repeatedly violated it, in addition to Israeli forces and settlers escalating attacks on Palestinians across the illegally occupied West Bank.
"The Israeli occupation has violated the cease-fire agreement more than 350 times since it was signed, clearly demonstrating its continued breach of commitments and its defiance of the international community," Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Hamas-governed Gaza, said Friday, according toAnadolu Agency.
Amid threats of retaliation from Netanyahu, Hamas also said Friday that it was investigating claims that human remains the group gave to Israel on Thursday as part of the cease-fire deal did not include those of hostage Shiri Bibas.
Hamas has said that an Israeli airstrike killed Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel—whose remains were positively identified after being handed over to Israel—with al-Thawabteh saying that Netanyahu "bears full responsibility for killing her and her children." He said Friday that Bibas' body "was turned into pieces after apparently being mixed with other bodies under the rubble."
In preparation for Monday's meeting, EUobserver reported Friday that according to a draft joint communiqué, European foreign ministers intend to tell Sa'ar that "displaced Gazans should be ensured a safe and dignified return to their homes," and they are "rejecting any attempt at demographic or territorial changes in the Gaza Strip."
"The E.U. is gravely concerned that the occupation of the Palestinian territory that began in 1967 continues to this day, underlining... that the International Court of Justice has found that the continued presence of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful," the document reportedly says. It also warns that the bloc "is ready to take work forward on further restrictive measures against extremist settlers [in the West Bank] and against entities and organizations which support them."
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Thousands of Autoworkers Protest in Brussels Amid Likely Audi Layoffs
"Their anger is very legitimate, very understandable, especially since Audi is not very clear on its plans," a local employment minister said.
Sep 16, 2024
Thousands of autoworkers protested in Brussels on Monday following recent news that Audi, a subsidiary of the German automaker Volkswagen, would phase out production at its plant there, which is expected to mean layoffs for its roughly 3,000 employees by the end of 2025.
The phase-out announcement led to a labor dispute that's shuttered the plant for the last two weeks, with some employees forming an encampment protest outside. The plant is expected to resume operations on Tuesday even though the core issues underlying the labor dispute, which some unions have characterized as a lockout by management, haven't been resolved.
Between 5,500 and 11,000 demonstrators marched toward the European Parliament on Monday, bringing "chaos" to Brussels, where public transport was largely shut down. Unions not directly affected by the Audi plant's likely closure participated in solidarity.
"Their anger is very legitimate, very understandable, especially since Audi is not very clear on its plans," Bernard Clerfayt, a local employment minister, toldAFP.
Charlie Le Paige of Belgium's worker's party, Parti du Travail de Belgique, wrote on social media that there were "lots and lots of people in the streets of Brussels in support of Audi workers and subcontractors."
Le Paige said that the company was treating employees as disposable while distributing huge amounts of money to shareholders, and declared that "workers are not adjustment variables!"
Beaucoup beaucoup de monde dans les rues de Bruxelles en soutien aux travailleurs et aux sous-traitants d'#Audi 🔥 Le groupe VW-Audi a distribué près de 12 milliards de dividendes l'année passée, les travailleurs ne sont pas des variables ajustement! pic.twitter.com/aUEgbCNZsl
— Charlie Le Paige (@charlielepaige) September 16, 2024
The state-of-the-art Audi plant in southern Brussels produces the Q8 e-Tron, an electric sport utility vehicle. Audi received about 27 million euros ($30 million) in public funding to retrain workers when it converted to electric vehicle production.
Audi announced in July that it was considering discontinuing production of the commercially unsuccessful Q8 e-Tron and closing the Brussels plant, and said earlier this month that it still hadn't found an alternative vehicle that it could produce there.
The following day, September 4, the plant's workers "downed tools" and set up protest camps on the premises, according toWorld Socialist Web Site.
On September 6, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, a leading U.S. unionist, visited the plant in solidarity with the workers there.
About 1,500 Audi workers at the plant face the prospect of layoffs as early as next month, another 1,100 by May, and the remainder by the end of 2025. There are also many hundreds of subcontractor workers that would be impacted by a closure, unions have said.
Last week, workers took about 200 car keys from vehicles at the plant as an act of protest, prompting warnings of legal action by the company. The workers later returned the keys to try to facilitate discussions with management.
The plant's likely closure is seen as part of E.V. failures at Volkswagen and European carmakers more generally, prompting calls for the European Union to invest in and protect the industry. Audi reportedly plans to make the successor to the Q8 e-Tron in Mexico.
Many of the demonstrators on Monday spoke harshly about E.U. policy.
"We also want to send a strong signal to European authorities, which are making things difficult for Belgian industry, but also for European industry," Patrick Van Belle, a leading union official at Audi Brussels, toldReuters, in explaining the reasons for Monday's demonstration. "The manufacturing industry is mainly migrating away from our countries."
Volkswagen's layoffs may in fact extend beyond Belgium. The company made the surprising announcement earlier this month that it may shutter factories in Germany, drawing fierce opposition from unions there. The closures would be the first in Germany in the company's 87-year history.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi last week issued a report, commissioned by the E.U., calling for stronger industrial policy and a degree of trade protectionism, including in the auto industry, which is struggling to compete with heavily subsidized Chinese vehicles. Draghi, hardly considered a radical political thinker, drew criticism from neoliberal institutions for the proposals.
Local police said about 5,500 people attended the demonstration on Monday while unions put the figure at 11,000.
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Thousands March in Brussels Against Far-Right Gains in EU Elections
"It's important to show that we're in solidarity with everyone, whatever their nationality, whatever they earn, whatever they do," said a member of the Anti-Fascist Coordination of Belgium.
Jun 17, 2024
Thousands of people came together in Brussels on Sunday to march against the far-right parties' recent gains in the European Union elections—the second such protest in the Belgian capital since the results were announced earlier this month.
Sunday's march was organized by the Anti-Fascist Coordination of Belgium. The Brussels Timesreported that "some 20 social movements and organizations are part of the CAB, including Young FGTB, Ades network, the Anti-Fascist Front of Liège, MOC Brussels, ASBL Garance, Ecolo J, and Mrax."
The organizers aimed to offer a "popular response and a contrasting social agenda" to the E.U.'s far-right movement, which they said "exacerbates social degradation" and promotes "absolutely disastrous policies" targeting democratic rights, the LGTBQ+ community, migrants, women, and workers.
"It will never be the far right that calls for taxing the richest, increasing the number of social housing, or implementing an ecological transition rooted in a logic of social justice, which is necessary for our common future."
"The far right will never demand higher wages for all," the organizers said. "It will never be the far right that calls for taxing the richest, increasing the number of social housing, or implementing an ecological transition rooted in a logic of social justice, which is necessary for our common future."
CAB member Sixtine Van Outryve toldEuronews that "this march is important today to show a message of hope in the face of the messages of despair that the far right wants to bring us."
"It's important to show that we're in solidarity with everyone, whatever their nationality, whatever they earn, whatever they do," she said. "We stand together and we want a society that doesn't divide us. A society that doesn't exclude, a society that isn't racist or sexist."
"Many of us were shocked by the election results, showing far-right breakthroughs at the European level," Van Outryve added, expressing concern about the "alarming" normalization of far-right discourse.
The right-wing surge in the 27-member bloc's elections was widely anticipated, as key figures from across the continent and beyond collectively campaigned against migrants, feminism, socialism, LGBTQ+ rights, and the United Nations.
Parties that did well in the E.U. contests included Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, Germany's Alternative für Deutschland, and Marine le Pen's National Rally in France, where President Emmanuel Macron responded to the results by calling snap national elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7.
As The Guardianreported earlier this month, "A surge in support for far-right parties in France, Germany, and Austria was tempered by strong support for centrist and left-wing groups in other countries."
The mixed results mean Ursula von der Leyen—who is tied to Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union and the European People's Party—is expected to secure a second five-year term as president of the European Commission.
The Sunday march preceded a Monday evening meeting for heads of state and government to begin discussing who will fill that role and other top E.U. posts. In addition to the commission spot, The Guardiannoted, "leaders will also decide on successors to Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, and Josep Borrell, the E.U.'s top diplomat."
"Consensus is also firming around Portugal's Socialist former Prime Minister António Costa to take over from Michel in chairing E.U. Council meetings," according to the British newspaper. "Estonia's prime minister, Kaja Kallas, is a favorite to take over from Borrell."
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