BELGIAN MP BLASTS E.U. DISREGARD FOR PALESTINE

On 12 March, Belgian member of the European Parliament Marc Botenga (@BotengaM on X) slammed Polish member of the EU Parliament Adam Szlapka for laughing during the EU debate on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. According to Botenga's X post, Szlapka had joked and laughed several times before this moment, displaying what he called 'contempt for Palestinian lives.'

Taking a closer look at the EU and Poland's support for Israel backs Botenga's argument. Israel's military onslaught of Palestinians in Gaza had klled more than 186,000 as of early July 2024, according to the Lancet medical journal. Yet, in October of the same year, Poland's chief of mission in Israel, Maciej Hunia, denied the possibility of a gnocide in the occupied Palestinian territories. Additionally, he called for the 'entire democratic world' to support Israel ‘against t*rrorists.’  

Meanwhile, EU member, Germany, is Israel's second-largest arms supplier after the US. The EU Working Party on Conventional Arms Export database gathers that between 2018 and 2022, EU member states sold arms to Israel worth $1.9 billion. It was not until pressure from civil societies and activists that some European Union states like Italy and Spain heeded calls for an arms embargo on Israel.

All EU members are signatories to the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court in 2002. However, the EU as an organisation is not a party. The EU has not come out against Israel’s onslaught, even after the ICC issued arrest warrants for the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant on 21 November 2024.

Video credit: @Europarl_EN (X)Sourceshttps://www.timesofisrael.com/polands-new-envoy-rejects-gaza-genocide-claims-says-democracies-must-back-israel/ 

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/10/09/are-european-countries-still-supplying-arms-to-israel

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-10-2025-03-11-INT-2017017772510_EN.html

https://app.asana.com/1/1202653485297959/inbox/1208659796957295/item/1209664610603190/story/1209665371788985

https://asp.icc-cpi.int/states-parties

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

https://theconversation.com/why-the-eus-stance-on-israel-is-starting-to-change-241763

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/13/europe/israel-arms-exports-europe-netherlands-f35-intl/index.html

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250102-far-from-ignorant-the-european-union-arms-exports-and-israel

https://x.com/BotengaM/status/1899877995441250551