EU risks international law breach with Israel gas deal, campaigners

The National

6 days ago

An investigation by Global Witness, an international NGO that focuses on the environment and human rights, has claimed the deal "tramples over Palestinian rights" and helps "bankroll Israel's genocide in Gaza".
The gas deal was signed in 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as the EU took a clear stance on ending "the era of Russian fossil fuels" and sought to diversify its gas supply.
According to Israel's energy ministry, the agreement enables substantial Israeli gas exports to Europe.
The route for this gas to be exported from Israel to the EU relies on a pipeline, operated in part by a subsidiary of US oil giant Chevron, which crosses Palestinian territory without regard for international conventions.
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The deal signed between Israel, Egypt and the EU, that has come up for renewal this June, is likely to make the EU complicit in breaches of international law, the investigation said.
Campaigners are calling for member states to immediately end imports of Israeli gas, and for all state and corporate actors involved in the running of the pipeline to be held legally accountable.
Sarah Biermann Becker, senior investigator at Global Witness, said: "Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU has tried to position itself as a defender of human rights, but its continued business with Israel exposes a deplorable double standard.
'What we've effectively seen is the EU swapping out one human rights abuser for another – pursuing a gas deal that tramples over Palestinian rights and effectively helps bankroll Israel's genocide on Gaza.
'As Israel's relentless and brutal aggression towards the Palestinian people shows no sign of abating, the EU must act – it must halt all gas imports via the EMG pipeline immediately and cancel the trade agreement. The EU's complicity in Israel's human rights violations must end now.'
Global Witness said it received in-depth legal advice from expert lawyers outlining multiple possible breaches of international law posed by the pipeline.
Expert lawyers outlined that if the EMG pipeline breaches international law, the EU would also be complicit in these breaches – through both the gas deal itself and through purchase of gas transported through the pipeline.
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Speaking in a personal capacity, MEP Lynn Boylan, who chairs the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Palestine, said: "This shameful deal should never have been signed.
'As we see the Israeli Government and the US Government openly discussing a resource grab in Gaza, the EU cannot be complicit and must now take the opportunity to end this shameful agreement once and for all."