As Lebanon burns, Europeans struggle to toughen stance towards Israel

As Europeans scramble to find a unified response to the escalating tensions in the Middle East, the failure to publish a joint statement on Lebanon has yet again laid bare disagreements between EU member states vis-à-vis Israel.

Israel has since increasingly shifted its focus towards the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which led to a ground invasion in southern Lebanon on Tuesday (1 October), with Iran, the same day, firing ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation.

EU diplomats and officials said the EU's current response lacks substance and would fall short of providing an actual response if needed.

"Some member states are actually very supportive of Israel finally dealing with the bad Hezbollah," one EU official told Euractiv, adding that it was unlikely that the bloc could take any tangible measures to reign into the conflict.

"We can only make moral appeals, maximum - Israel has a free ticket to do whatever they say is for their 'survival and protection'," they added.

A week earlier, world leaders in New York tried to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah from spiralling into a full-blown regional war.

Lack of common line

Stepping up the rhetoric, the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell warned at a press conference on Monday (30 September), "The sovereignty of both Israel and Lebanon has to be guaranteed, and any further military intervention will dramatically aggravate the situation, and it has to be avoided."

After virtual emergency talks between EU foreign ministers, Borrell announced a joint EU27 declaration on the issue. However, the lack of unanimity in finding a common wording condemning the escalation forced him to release a statement on his own.

The Czech Republic ultimately blocked the joint statement meant to call for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hezbollah and condemn the number of civilians killed in Lebanon in its "ground incursion".

Prague objected to the text for "unilaterally limiting Israel's right to self-defence against Hezbollah, demanding to add text on the withdrawal of Hezbollah from Israel's borders," a Czech spokesperson told Euractiv.

Several countries considered staunch Israel supporters, including Hungary and Austria, have recently managed to water down several joint EU initiatives they considered too critical of Tel Aviv.

In his statement on Tuesday (1 October), released nearly a day after the talks, Borrell appealed for an "immediate ceasefire" between the parties.

He also urged the "full and symmetrical implementation" of a 2006 UN Security Council resolution - never implemented - which had called on Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon and the full disarmament of Hezbollah.

'Limited influence'

While the EU's language over the past weeks has gradually grown more critical, the gap between Borrell and member states has prevented the adoption of a unified response to any developments in the Middle East.

"It's ridiculous; we want to influence and mediate, have some kind of weight in the discussion, but can't even manage to put out a joint statement because one country is squeamish about wording that does not even go far," one EU diplomat quipped after Monday's talks.

Another EU diplomat stated: "Let's not kid ourselves; the EU's influence in this case is really limited; we have no leverage."

Pressure points

Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, EU officials and diplomats are increasingly looking into what options the bloc would have to exert pressure on Israel.

But next to limited sanctions on Hamas officials, violent Israeli settlers and Iran, there remains little appetite for EU trade sanctions on Israel.

"While continuing to press Iran and its allies to end all attacks, European leaders should also use their collective leverage to dissuade Israel from ongoing escalation and press it into an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," Julien Barnes-Dacey, director for the Middle East and North Africa programme at European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) told Euractiv.

"This should include suspending arms sales to Israel and reviewing the EU’s Association Agreement with the country – the lynchpin of their bilateral relations and a key source of economic leverage," Barnes-Dacey said.

Barnes-Dacey also stressed, "Europeans should work closely with Arab Gulf states to press the US to use its military leverage over Netanyahu before it is too late."

Over the past months, the EU and its member states have started seriously engaging in talks with Arab counterparts. EU leaders are expected to meet with their Gulf counterparts in the first-ever high-level summit in mid-October.

A high-level ministerial meeting co-hosted by the EU last week has broken ground on a new international coalition expected to push for renewed peace efforts and a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

As part of that, Borrell told Euractiv one example could be to test the waters on willingness to recognise Palestine's independence, a move pushed for by Spain and Ireland, to "see how many countries want to do it all together."

Several European countries are ready to recognise Palestinian statehood.

"There is ever more talk of negative pressure, in addition to the positive pressure that we have been focusing on for so long and that we still want to pursue," EU's Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, Sven Koopmans, told Euractiv after the talks in New York.

[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe]