Kaja Kallas will forever be known as the EU foreign affairs chief who chose not to stop a genocide
A key speech by EU foreign affairs chief in the European Parliament today made it clear that the European Commission will not act against the genocide in Gaza.
The divide in the Commission is growing, with EU Commissioner Teresa Ribera stating clearly last week that a genocide is in fact taking place in Gaza. She was not backed up by her colleague Kaja Kallas today, who gave another feeble speech about “positive developments in Gaza” as Israel continues to level buildings, target civilians, and bomb humanitarian flotillas.
Meanwhile, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has not mentioned Gaza in three months.
Speaking from the floor of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, The Left co-Chair Manon Aubry (La France Insoumise, France) said: “It is only thanks to The Left that the Parliament is finally saying something about the genocide in Gaza. But we do not need any more vague condemnations, we want action from Kaja Kallas. We want an embargo on arms, and an end to the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The hundreds of people on the Global Sumud Flotilla have more courage than Kallas and all of Europe’s leaders combined.”
Marc Botenga (PTB/PVDA, Belgium) said: “Our moral compass is not to be found here in the European Union. It is to be found in the hundreds of thousands of Europeans taking action against EU complicity in genocide. Meanwhile the EU continues to support Israel with hundreds of millions in arms shipments and while we are told that Kaja Kallas spoke to Israeli ministers to increase aid, famine has come to Gaza since then.”
Catarina Martins (Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal) said: “Tonight, off the coast of Tunisia, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s mother ship was hit by a drone ordered by Israel. On board the ship are Greta Thunberg, Ada Colau, Mariana Mortágua and many other European citizens. Where is the condemnation of this attack from EU leaders? Where is the guarantee of protection for those who are doing what international law obliges us all to do: deliver humanitarian aid. Where are the sanctions against Israel?”
The Left has consistently been the only voice in the European Parliament to call out the genocide of the Palestinian people. Two MEPs from The Left are aboard the flotilla with another joining a legal observer ship.
The Parliament is expected to pass a resolution on the situation in Gaza on Thursday afternoon.
