The UK, France, Germany and Italy released a joint statement condemning the multiple and ongoing Israeli attacks on United Nations Peacekeeper troops in southern Lebanon.
According to the statement, Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers are contrary to international humanitarian law.
The statement did not mention the ongoing Israeli assault against civilians in Gaza and in Lebanon, in which Israeli forces have killed over 50,000 Palestinians, including over 15,000 children (though the number is likely far higher), and over 2,000 Lebanese. But the attacks on United Nations peacekeeper troops apparently crossed a line that led these nations to release a statement.
France, for its part, has recently implemented an arms embargo to Israel due to the ongoing genocide being carried out by the Israeli military against the entire civilian population of the Gaza Strip.
But the UK, Italy and Germany have continued supporting Israel despite the genocide.
However, they did join France in issuing a statement reaffirming the “essential stabilising role” played by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon and said attacks must stop at once.
The UNIFIL mission, which includes hundreds of European soldiers, has come under attack from the Israeli military in recent days.
“We, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom express our deep concern in the wake of recent attacks by IDF on UNIFIL bases, which have left several peacekeepers injured. These attacks must stop immediately. We condemn all threats to UNIFIL’s security,” the statement read.
“Any deliberate attack against UNIFIL goes against international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The protection of peacekeepers is incumbent upon all parties to a conflict.”
The Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on the UNIFIL peacekeepers to leave their posts, where they have been stationed to preserve peace since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006.
But a number of the UNIFIL troops remain at their posts, citing UN Resolution 1701 and the humanitarian needs of civilians in the south of Lebanon.
Spain has also launched an arms embargo against Israel.
According to Politico, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called on the European Commission to take a stance on whether to suspend the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, just days after urging a halt to weapons sales to Israel.
“The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two European countries to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated,” Sánchez told an event on Monday in Barcelona.
The comments refer to requests made by Spain and Ireland in February for an urgent review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, over concerns that Israel has breached human rights obligations embedded in the pact.
Nicaragua has cut all diplomatic ties with Israel, calling Netanyahu’s government “fascist” and “genocidal.”
