A historical opinion by the European Commission’s then top lawyer, obtained by EUobserver, said the bloc was legally entitled to suspend cooperation with Israel, such as its ‘Horizon Europe’ science grants and ‘Erasmus’ student-exchange scheme, already in 2017 due to Israel’s violations of international law in the West Bank.
It was even entitled to freeze the whole EU–Israel Association Agreement, which governs their duty-free trade, the memo added.
It showed the EU was fully aware of Israeli abuses, that they were getting worse, that dialogue with Israel was ineffective, and that Palestinians had no legal redress.
The EU legal opinion also said that UN Security Council resolution 2334 in 2016 had explicitly called for UN members to take measures to prevent acts of destruction in the West Bank.
A total or partial suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement “would comply with customary international law”, the memo said.
