The government should take a position at the EU Foreign Affairs Council as a state defending international law, not act as Netanyahu’s lawyer

 

14 July 2025, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Hundreds of civilians have been murdered in Gaza over the past 24 hours by the Israeli army, adding to the thousands of victims of the ongoing genocide. Among the victims in recent hours are six children at a drinking water distribution point. At the same time, inside Israel, which calls itself the “only democracy in the Middle East”, the repression of and authoritarianism exerted against anti-war voices is hardening. The latest case is the process of expulsion from the Israeli parliament of MP Ayman Odeh for opposing the war and supporting cooperation between Jews and Arabs.

The ongoing genocide and barbarities committed by the State of Israel have brought the entire international community to a crossroads. There is not an article of international law or a human right left that Israel has not violated. Yet the EU insists on tolerating or even supporting the genocidal Netanyahu regime, even though the EU-Israel Association Agreement is supposed to have respect for human rights as a fundamental element. The recent letter of an appeal issued by 27 former EU ambassadors is a damning indictment of the EU’s attitude.

AKEL calls on the Christodoulides government to take a stand at tomorrow’s EU Foreign Affairs Council on the ongoing genocide in Gaza as a state defending international law and not act as Netanyahu’s lawyer. Suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement is the very least the EU should have decided long ago. The Republic of Cyprus must this time support it explicitly and unequivocally, as well as any other measures to put pressure on Israel that are put on the table. The shameful stance that the Christodoulides government has been taking for the past 1.5 years on Gaza must end.

14.07.2025