More than 800 EU staffers and international diplomats have issued a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denouncing her “uncontrolled” support of Israel.
Al Jazeera, which has seen the letter, says the signers “hardly recognize the values of the EU,” claiming there is a “seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution towards the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law.” They decry the Commission’s “double standards,” since it considers the blockade of Ukraine by Russia as an act of terror, while Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “completely ignored.”
“If Israel does not stop immediately, the whole Gaza Strip and its inhabitants will be erased from the planet,” the letter read. “We urge you to call, together with the leaders of the whole Union, for a ceasefire and for the protection of civilian life. This is at the core of the EU’s existence,” they said, warning “the EU risks losing all credibility.” The European Commission’s “recent unfortunate actions or positions seem to give a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip. We would have been proud if the European Union … had called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and indiscriminate violence against civilians.”
