More than 100 former MEPs urge EU to suspend association agreement with Israel
Gaza
amounts to 'nothing short of a war crime', a group of more than 100 former members of the
European Parliament
have said.
Tentative moves by the
European Commission
to sanction
Israel
for its conduct during its
invasion of Gaza
are 'too little, too late', the former MEPs stated.
In an open letter criticising the EU's response to the war in Gaza, the large group of former politicians said concrete action needed to be taken by the EU executive arm led by
Ursula von der Leyen
.
The letter was signed by Josep Borrell, a former Spanish MEP who was the EU's top foreign affairs envoy until late last year. His efforts to sanction Israel in that role were blocked.
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In total 110 former MEPs from Spain, Ireland, France, the UK and several other countries added their names to the joint letter.
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Al Jazeera rejects claims journalist killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza led Hamas cell
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The group called for the EU to suspend an association agreement that governs the bloc's relations with Israel, which includes a free-trade deal.
The commission recently proposed suspending part of the agreement that allows to Israel access Horizon research funding. The decision needs the support of a weighted majority of the EU's 27 states, with two of Israel's backers, Germany and Italy, holding up the suspension.
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Germany divided over plan to limit weapons for Israel
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The open letter was organised by a former UK MEP, Glyn Ford of the Labour Party. Several former Irish MEPs added their names to the letter, including Emer Costello, Brian Crowley, Proinsias De Rossa and Pat the Cope Gallagher. Former Independent MEP and current Minister of State Marian Harkin is also among the signatories.
A failure by EU states to agree to take action against Israel would expose their 'complicity' in its war crimes in Gaza, the letter stated.
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Why has Gazans' hunger attained the status of 'moral crisis' when Israel's genocidal slaughter did not?
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Israel's restriction of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza over recent weeks and months has heightened pressure on the country, as aid agencies continue to warn of spreading famine in the war-torn strip.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's plan to further expand military operations in Gaza has drawn more international condemnation.
EU foreign ministers were to discuss the situation in Gaza during a video call on Monday, mostly focusing on upcoming talks on the Ukraine war between United States president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's aerial bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, which has destroyed much of the Palestinian territory's buildings and infracture.
The Israeli invasion followed attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, during which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
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Irish Times
34 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, August 13th: On Gaza atrocities, Ukraine, small SUVs, and protecting your bike
Sir, – The cynic in me cannot help but wonder why some people are only now finding the moral courage to speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. Starvation doesn't happen overnight. Complete siege-like conditions were imposed by Israel on October 9th, 2023, lasting until October 21st, with limited and totally inadequate supplies being allowed in thereafter. From March 2nd this year, a full blockade on everything was again imposed. It is not too difficult to predict the effects of withholding the essentials of life from an already malnourished and weakened population (whose agricultural land has also been destroyed) for five months. So why has it taken the evidential photos of skeletal children to evoke a reaction when the facts and logic already spoke for themselves? READ MORE Outrage has been expressed at the most recent killing of five Al Jazeera journalists, but their deaths were preceded by over 180 others. Why has every media report not included the reminder that Palestinian journalists were risking their lives daily in order to tell the world about what Israel refused to let foreign journalists in to see for themselves? Only now does Germany have scruples about arming Israel. The fact that as far back as November 2024 over 710 babies under one year had been killed in Israeli strikes didn't resonate as grotesque enough a statistic to provoke a crisis of conscience. For those whom German military aid has been involved in killing and wounding, the gesture is too late. Footage has been available since October 2023 of the systematic annihilation of the physical structures of the Strip. Is it the recent statistic that 70 per cent are uninhabitable and 25 per cent totally destroyed that affects politicians who now see 'war crime' written in these numbers and try to exculpate themselves by promising to recognise the state of Palestine? As if that will magic infrastructure back into being. We have all had access to the same knowledge for 22 months but some have chosen to not see and to not speak. Currently, the avalanche of those wanting to be seen to line up on what is now being perceived as 'the right side' can only be construed as that of people afraid that their shameful silence (or worse, overt support) has been exposed by the headlights of accountability and is a form of complicity in what will surely rank as one of the worst episodes in the history of the modern world. – Yours, etc, MARY MORAN, Shannon, Co Clare. Sir, – Following the brutal killing of five media workers from Al Jazeera, including the high profile and much loved journalist Anas Al Sharif, the hunting, targeting and assassination of Palestinian journalists by Israel in Gaza has been rightly condemned in the strongest terms around the world. However, many news outlets have been at pains to report these events accompanied by what appear to be official Israeli government statements or Israeli media quotes, presumably for 'balance'. Surely, for the sake of accuracy, when such material is quoted by the likes of RTÉ, the BBC, the Guardian and The Irish Times, it should be clearly noted that every single news item, quote and press report coming out of Israel is subject to strict military censorship. Perhaps they should add that Israel (often cited as the only democracy in the Middle East) ranks at 112 out of 180 in the RSF World Press Freedom Index for 2025 (just below Haiti at 111). I do question whether these news outlets would give the same credence and unquestioning respect to Haiti's official press statements as they do to those emanating from Tel Aviv. – Yours, etc, TRISH LAVELLE, Skibbereen Co Cork. Sir, – It amazes me that Germany, with its history before 1945, continues to support a country which is committing genocide, killing journalists and denying access to foreign journalists to report the truth in Gaza – while using every opportunity to starve and kill civilians. I thought that history was a learning process. – Yours, etc, ALASTAIR WHITE, Foxrock Manor, Dublin. Small SUV supporter Sir, – On two previous occasions I wrote to you outlining why I now drive a small SUV. At this stage I have had hip surgery on three occasions but I can honestly say that I can get into and out of the SUV without major pain and discomfort. That is the one reason why I drive this make of car. Why have you not printed a single letter in praise of the SUV? Balance and all that kind of thing, you know – Yours, etc, RICHARD ALLEN, Cummeen, Sligo. Sir, – SUVs are frequently referred to as off-road vehicles. In my experience, the only time most of them are off-road is when they are parked on and obstructing the footpath. – Yours, etc, BEN DUNDON, Kingswood Heights, Dublin 24. Bicycle theft Sir, – My strategy of temporarily pauperising the appearance of my relatively expensive bicycle by always tying a suitably threadbare plastic bag over the saddle before locking the two-wheeler on public streets seems to work. Not only have I enjoyed a lifetime of theft-free cycling, but even on the most inclement occasions I manage to arrive home with a bone-dry posterior. – Yours, etc, KIERAN FLYNN, Ballinasloe, Co Galway. Sir, – I see that William Smith (Letters, August 12th) has built a thief-proof bicycle. What a great idea – I think I'll steal it. – Yours, etc, RORY NOONAN, Dalkey, Co Dublin. Is this a record? Sir, – The current thread in the letters page reminds me of a letter decades back when a writer (whose name eludes me) described being in his garden and hearing the sound of Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring, sung by John McCormack, as it was carried on the wind from a location nearby. He wondered if it was a record? – Yours, etc, MICHAEL KEEGAN, Booterstown, Co Dublin. Sir, – Further to recent correspondence, I once had an Opel car that clocked up nigh on 300,000 miles during its lifespan. Is this a Rekord? – Yours, etc, PAUL DELANEY, Dalkey, Dublin. A deal for Ukraine Sir, – Geoffrey Roberts (Letters, August 12th) asserts that the great majority of Ukrainians want peace 'even if it means harsh compromises'. This is a simplistic interpretation of Ukrainian public opinion. Some polls, like Gallup, ask whether Ukraine should fight the war until victory or negotiate. Faced with these two stark options most Ukrainians do favour negotiation. The results are not as straightforward when Ukrainians are asked more detailed questions about conditions for a peace agreement. When asked about how peace should be achieved most Ukrainians are not keen on 'harsh compromises' at all. Most do not want Ukraine to give up any territory, even if that means the war continues. A vast majority – 74 per cent – will only accept a peace agreement if Ukraine is allowed to retain its sovereignty and its trajectory towards the EU and Nato. And if Ukraine receives either Western peacekeepers to guarantee against further Russian aggression or is armed to defend itself in the future. Instead of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Europe falling in line with the US, as Roberts suggests, perhaps the US should fall in line with Ukrainian popular opinion that wants peace but with guarantees? Respecting what Ukrainians want would mean taking Ukrainian sovereignty and hopes seriously. It would mean respecting the victims of Vladimir Putin's war rather than rewarding the aggressor in the war in the vainglorious pursuit of a Nobel Prize. Such respect is unlikely to come from Putin and Donald Trump given Putin does not believe Ukraine to be a state and Trump's narcissism. It is vital, therefore, that Europe and Zelenskiy do not give in to any US attempt at imposing a peace. If there is to be a permanent peace Ukraine needs to be a party to the terms of that peace and its people's wishes taken into account. Ukraine should not a sacrificial lamb to Putin's regime and Trump's ego. – Yours, etc, NEIL ROBINSON, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Limerick, Co Limerick. Sir, – Geoffrey Roberts is naive if he thinks a peace deal between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will save Ukraine from Russian domination. Putin has no interest in an independent sovereign Ukraine, even one with reduced territory. He doesn't even believe that Ukrainians are a separate people, only that they are deluded Russians led astray by western propaganda. Like Neville Chamberlain, Trump will surrender parts of Ukraine to Russia to appease Putin. If Putin is smart, he will wait a few years, rebuilding his strength, and after Trump leaves office, attack and capture the rest of Ukraine. Europe learned the hard lesson in the 1930s that appeasement doesn't stop wars, it encourages more of it. As a professor of history, you would think Mr Roberts would know that. – Yours, etc, JASON FITZHARRIS, Swords, Co Dublin. Cancelling India Day Sir, – I was very saddened to read about the cancellation of India Day in Dublin this year, on what would have been its 10th anniversary. More than a missed celebration of culture and inclusion, the event's cancellation is a grim reminder of the growing shadow of racism and online hate in Ireland. We must confront the roots of recent attacks on innocent Indian people in Ireland with honesty and urgency. What are we allowing to fester in our society that makes such violence against immigrants and their children possible? India Day may not go ahead this year, but I hope the spirit of the festival can live on. I will be thinking about the many Indian immigrants who have positively shaped my life over the years, especially the medical professionals who recently tended to my mother in her dying days, and the childcare worker who is a light in my young son's life. To our Indian community, let us stand together in solidarity and support. Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. – Yours, etc, MÉABH NÍ CHOILEÁIN, Terenure Road West, Dublin. Sir, – It is with a heavy heart I read that India Day, due to have taken place this Sunday in Farmleigh, is now cancelled due a series of unprovoked attacks on Indian nationals in Ireland. Having worked as a GP for 40 years I can only say that my Indian colleagues make a huge and positive contribution to our health service. In particular, the Indian nurses working in many of our nursing homes are almost unparalleled in the courtesy, professionalism, dedication, and care they give to our elderly. Many of their offspring also make huge contributions to diverse areas of Irish society, including to the highest level of government. – Yours, etc, GARRETT IGOE. Virginia, Co Cavan.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
A letter from Michael O'Leary: ‘MetroLink is a mad, bad project'
Sir, – Unbelievable!! Only an Irish Times columnist (with no known experience in transport) could waste her half-page column, slagging off Dermot Desmond and myself for criticising the Dublin MetroLink, without once mentioning the projected cost of approximately €20 billion!! Being criticised by Irish Times columnists is always a great compliment. In what crazy country could we seriously consider wasting approximately €20 billion of taxpayer money on a railway line, serving a narrow strip of the north Dublin population from Swords to St Stephen's Green, all of whom are well served currently by bus connections? The cost/benefit of this insanity has never been published, because it cannot be justified. Dermot Desmond's transport view should carry significant weight, given his very successful rescue, redevelopment and sale of London City Airport for approximately $1 billion in 2006. My own, (less?) humble view is based on almost 40 years' experience of growing, what is now the world's largest passenger airline. READ MORE But sadly we are both guilty of 'being rich', so therefore dismissed by The Irish Times 'experts', who know so much more about transport. I wouldn't quibble with a MetroLink from Swords to St Stephen's Green if it was free, but there are far better uses of taxpayer funds, than this white elephant. Muddled thinking, free of any cost/benefit analysis, such as that displayed by Justine McCarthy, is how you deliver a children's hospital (which should have cost €200 million) at a final cost of €2.5 billion and rising. My criticism of the MetroLink is based on the fact, that very few passengers at Dublin Airport will ever use it. It takes passengers into St Stephen's Green, so some small minority of inbound visitors might use it, but the vast majority of Irish originating passengers, who need to get to Dublin Airport early in the morning, or are travelling to/from outside the D2 / D4 area, won't use it. Dublin Airport is just 9km from the centre of the city, and is well served by competitively priced bus connections, which takes passengers to the city centre, and to points all over Ireland at low fares. These passengers won't switch to a €20 billion metro. Your columnist claims that I 'opposed the second terminal at Dublin Airport in 2010. I didn't. Dublin needed a second terminal l and I offered to build it on the North Apron for just €200 million, as Ryanair had proposed. I simply pointed out that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), wasted €2 billion, building Terminal 2 in the wrong place (a cul-de-sac) and with no ability to future expand. Now that the second runway has opened on the north apron, the chronic congestion in the T2 cul-de-sac bedevils the T2 airlines on a daily basis. I note Ms McCarthy failed to offer her opinion on the Dublin Airport second runway (a project which I also supported), yet which the airlines and our passengers are prevented from using, by a 2007 (Road Traffic) Planning restriction. We elected a new government last November which promised to remove this cap 'as soon as possible', which would enable the airlines at Dublin to grow traffic, new routes, tourism and jobs. Sadly, eight months later the Government has failed to take any action to scrap this cap. More inexcusable delay and inaction from our political class. To summarise, both I and Dermot Desmond believe, wasting €20 billion on a Dublin Airport metro, is an unjustifiable waste of scarce taxpayer funds. I object because the majority of Dublin Airport passengers won't ever use this vastly overpriced service. Dermot correctly suggests that Al and electric road transport will solve the problem at a fraction of this €20 billion over the next decade. The fact that an unqualified Irish Times columnist considers that 'two rich men' are wrong, only renews my faith that this MetroLink is a mad, bad project. Add some more buses to service the citizens of Swords, Ballymun, Collins Avenue, and Glasnevin, and The Irish Times could save Irish taxpayers (me included!) about €19.9 billion rather than squandering these funds, as we have on the world's most expensive, and least efficient, Children's Hospital. If the next time Ms McCarthy wants to offer an opinion on government transport projects, perhaps she could address the cost benefit of the project, rather than slagging off two successful – albeit opinionated – business people. We won't always be right, but we will be right, far more often than the misguided, anti-business Irish Times 'chatterati'. – Yours, etc, MICHAEL O'LEARY. Chief Executive, Ryanair, Dublin.
Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Ukraine will not cede land that could be Russian springboard for new war, Zelenskyy says
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine could not agree to a Russian proposal to give up more of his country's territory in exchange for a ceasefire because Moscow would use what it gained as a springboard to start a future war. The Ukrainian president said he did not believe that Donald Trump supported Russia's demands, and he expressed hope the US leader would act as an honest mediator when he meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. He added there was no sign that Russia was preparing to implement a ceasefire, as reports emerged that small sabotage groups had pierced Ukrainian defences in the eastern Donbas, advancing about six miles in three days. Zelenskyy also warned that Russia was planning new offensives on three parts of the frontline. Speaking to journalists in the run-up to the Trump-Putin summit, and a day before a virtual meeting with US and European leaders, Zelenskyy said he believed Putin wanted to dominate his country because he 'does not want a sovereign Ukraine'. It was therefore dangerous, Zelenskyy said, for Ukraine to be forced by the US into accepting Russia's demand to take over the parts of Donbas it does not control after the Alaska summit. The region sought by Russia amounted to 'about 90,000 square kilometres' of the country, he said. Last week Russia indicated it was prepared to consider a ceasefire in the Ukraine war for the first time, in exchange for Ukraine withdrawing from the parts of Donbas it still controlled. Donald Trump recently suggested both countries should swap territories. File picture: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Though Trump then suggested that Russia and Ukraine could engage in some 'swapping of territories', Zelenskyy said he understood that Russia was 'simply offering not to advance further, not to withdraw from anywhere' and that swaps were not on the table. 'We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do it,' Zelenskyy said. 'For Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive.' The region demanded by Russia was too strategically important to give up, he said, because it was a heavily fortified area that protected Ukraine's central cities. 'I have heard nothing — not a single proposal — that would guarantee that a new war will not start tomorrow and that Putin will not try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv' once Russia had gained all of Donbas, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine's leader said he wanted Putin instead to agree to a ceasefire on the current frontlines and for both sides to return all prisoners of war and missing children, before any discussion about territory and the future security of the country. 'Any question of territory cannot be separated from security guarantees,' he said. Zelenskyy said he would not be at the summit in Alaska, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin with both in office since 2018. But he said he hoped it would be followed by 'a trilateral meeting' with Trump and Putin, though the Russian leader has so far said he is not willing to meet Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader also expressed faith in the unpredictable Trump, who he said could act as an honest broker between himself and Putin. 'I do not believe that Putin's proposal is Trump's proposal,' he said. 'I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He is acting as a mediator – he is in the middle, not on Russia's side. Let him not be on our side but in the middle.' He said he did not know what exactly Putin and Trump were going to discuss in Alaska, saying 'probably there is a bilateral track' of talks about other topics of mutual interest, such as trade, sanctions and business. But he said Putin had scored a diplomatic win in securing the meeting: 'He is seeking, excuse me, photographs. He needs a photo of his meeting with President Trump.' Zelenskyy said Russia was desperately trying to show it was winning the war and that the Kremlin wanted 'to create a certain narrative, especially in the American media, that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing' by mounting sabotage attacks in the Donbas region. He acknowledged that 'groups of Russians advanced about 10 kilometres in several places' although he said: 'They have no equipment, only weapons in their hands,' and said that some had already been killed or captured. But the breach is ill-timed from Ukraine's point of view. In Alaska, Putin is likely to tell Trump that such successes show that Russia is gradually winning the three-year war in the east, and so US future support for Kyiv will be wasted. War maps showed two lines of advance east of the town of Dobropillya, and gains of about six miles since Friday. Experts said the next few days would be critical to see if Ukraine could contain the break in the front. Ukraine's military said Russia had concentrated about 110,000 troops in the sector and that the invaders were 'brazenly attempting to infiltrate our defensive lines with sabotage and small infantry groups, regardless of their losses'. A Ukrainian serviceman of 57th motorised brigade controls an FPV drone at the frontline in Kharkiv region. File picture: Andrii Marienko/AP The military command said in a social media post that reserves had been deployed at the order of Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's chief military commander, in an effort to restore the frontlines. The Institute for the Study of War said Russian 'sabotage and reconnaissance groups' had infiltrated Ukrainian-held territory near Dobropillya, a key supply point in the west of the Donetsk region. 'It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough,' the ISW said on Monday night. It said the invaders would now try to turn 'tactical advances' into something more significant. Russia is taking heavy casualties of about 1,000 a day, with 500 killed and 500 wounded on Monday, Zelenskyy said, as it relies heavily on infantry assaults to break Kyiv's defensive lines. Zelenskyy said Ukraine's casualties on the same day were much smaller — a total of 340 — '18 killed and 243 wounded, with 79 missing in action'. But in the past when Moscow's forces have broken through, Ukraine has frequently proved unable to push them back. A former senior Ukrainian army officer, Bohdan Krotevych, said the piercing of Ukraine's lines had come about because 'instead of reinforcing defensive units with infantry', senior commanders in Kyiv had prioritised deploying newly mobilised soldiers into assault forces, leaving units already on the frontline weakened. 'To stabilise the front, we must reinforce brigades on the line of contact with infantry,' Krotevych said, and he called for Ukraine to urgently strengthen its reserve forces and adopt a defensive strategy rather than try to counter high-risk Russian infantry assaults with its own. Dobropillya is a key supply point for the beleaguered towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad to the south and the principal cities of Ukrainian-held Donbas to the east from the centre of the country. Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing a fresh offensive in the autumn involving nearly 30,000 troops moved from Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine, 'in three directions' on the frontline — towards Zaporizhzhia in the south and Pokrovsk and the nearby Novopavlika in the south-east. — The Guardian
