EU’s Borrell suggests US cut military aid to Israel
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Activists demonstrating in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington to call for a redirection of military aid for Israel.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BRUSSELS – European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made a thinly veiled call on Feb 12 for the United States to cut arms supplies to Israel because of high civilian casualties in its war in Gaza.
Borrell recalled that US President Joe Biden said last week that Israel’s response to the Oct 7 Hamas attack
“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Mr Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU development aid ministers in Brussels.
“If the international community believes that this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe we have to think about the provision of arms,” he added.
The US is Israel’s most important foreign arms provider. It gives Israel US$3.8 billion (S$5.1 billion) in military aid annually, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs.
Washington has so far not heeded any pleas to cut such aid.
Asked at a news briefing about Mr Borrell’s comments and whether the US is considering cutting military aid to Israel, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller defended the US policy, saying it gave the administration the “maximum ability” to be successful in influencing Israel.
“We have not made the assessment that... that is a step that would be more impactful than the steps that we have already taken,” Mr Miller said.
Mr Borrell also noted that a Dutch court on Feb 12 ordered the government of the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used in violations of international law in the Gaza war.
Mr Borrell said it was contradictory for countries to repeatedly declare that Israel was killing too many civilians in Gaza, but do nothing concrete to prevent the killing.
Israel has insisted it takes extensive measures to protect civilians but is forced to conduct military operations in civilian areas as Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the Oct 7 attack, operates there.
In his remarks in Brussels, Mr Borrell also sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he was not listening to pleas to do more to protect civilians.
“Everybody goes to Tel Aviv, begging ‘please don’t do that, protect civilians, don’t kill so many’. How many is too many? What is the standard?” Mr Borrell said, appearing angry and emotional. “Netanyahu doesn’t listen (to) anyone.”
Mr Borrell said Mr Netanyahu had been calling for an evacuation of Palestinian civilians from the Rafah area of Gaza – the last part of the enclave where people have found refuge – but the veteran Spanish politician questioned how this could be done.
“They are going to evacuate? Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate these people?” he said. REUTERS
