After the Hamas attack on 7 October, outraged reactions and expressions of support rained down from the EU. Israel has the right to defend itself, it sounded. But how can an occupying and colonial power, an Apartheid state and aggressor defend itself? 

More than one year later, I want to share with you some shocking observations.

In Gaza, we are witnessing genocide and large-scale war crimes by a far-right, fascist government openly advocating a policy of ethnic cleansing and expansion of Israel’s current borders.  More than 43,000 people have been killed, hospitals and schools are attacked, medical personnel killed or kidnapped. In Lebanon, Israel uses the same terror techniques where the death toll has reached 3,000 and entire villages are dynamited. It is extra shocking because it happens openly and without punishment. The perpetrators themselves are filming their crimes.

The other shocking fact is the complicity of the west in this mediatised genocide. Since October last year, at the onset of Israel’s brutal military crackdown, the US approved $17.9 billion worth of military aid to Israel. Never before has US military aid to Israel been so large. Germany also continues to provide military aid, although war crimes have been extensively documented by the UN and human rights organisations. (In 2023, Berlin delivered licences for weapons and military equipment worth €326 million. Since August, Germany resumed that support and has since supplied nearly €100 million worth of aid.) That military backing is accompanied by diplomatic and economic support. Israel remains a privileged EU partner. It participates in research and development programmes under an association agreement and enjoys trade benefits. According the EU-Israel Action Plan, agreed in 2005, common relations are based “on shared values of democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms.” What a hypocrisy!

Equally shocking is the refusal to end the so-called unprovoked war in Ukraine. NATO did provoke this war with its decision to give Ukraine the prospect of membership in the military alliance knowing that this was unacceptable for Russia to share – among others – such a long direct border with NATO and that it would mean the end of the long-standing Russian military presence in Crimea. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does constitute an unacceptable violation of the UN Charter, this war could have been avoided if the West had taken Russian security perceptions into account. Moscow reiterated in early September ‘24 its willingness to sit around the table on the basis of agreements reached during the Istanbul negotiations in spring 2022.  But for NATO, it is not about Ukraine, but about NATO’s strategic interests to weaken Russia. The West encouraged Ukraine to continue the war with massive military support and at the cost of countless casualties and massive destruction. Ukraine is being used and exhausted by saddling it with a war of attrition through massive Western military support. Continuing the war is clearly to the detriment of Ukraine, which is losing more and more of its territory and is left with a huge human and economic cost.

The selective indignation about Israeli versus Russian agresssion is striking. On the European Council website, you can read that the EU imposed massive and unprecedented sanctions against Russia. We are still waiting for the first sanction worth the name imposed on Israel. This double standards undermine the international legal system, the more since Israel is now openly attacking the UN institutions themselves.

Another consequence is the militarisation of EU and NATO member states to the detriment of diplomacy, public services and environmental protection. NATO member states already account for more than half of global military spending and if the current trend continues, that share will grow sharply. According to NATO, military spending by European member states + Canada will increase by almost 20 per cent this year. This is a dangerous trend that contributes to a global arms race.

The peace movement has a responsibility. Even if the political and media climate is not in our favour, we see people take the streets to oppose war policies and double standards.

First and foremost there is an urgent need for a ceasefire (Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere)…  A boycot of Israel, divestment and sanctions, to begin with a complete military embargo.

In Europe, more people understand that more weapons and more militarisation does not create security but insecurity. More than ever we need to reach out to trade unions, the environmental movement, youth and women’s organisations and the rest of civil society to turn the tide. Militarisation generates strained relations among nations and a lack of resources to address pressing global challenges. What we need is a indivisible common security among nations and people. We can only be secure if others feels secure.

We should join forces against the politics of war and mobilising at the NATO summit at the end of June 2025 in The Hague. We must stop the insane and money-grabbing militarism! We must stand up for the international legal system against those who want to destroy it and act according to the laws of the jungle. We must show the true, hegemonic nature of NATO. You are welcome to join a preparatory webinar on 21 November (at 18h CET) entitled ‘The True Face of NATO’.