Why European Commission does not even accept its executive vice president’s remarks on genocide in Gaza

Pars Today – On Friday, August 5, the European Commission distanced itself from remarks made by its Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera regarding acts of genocide by Israel in the Gaza Strip, stating that determining such crimes falls within the jurisdiction of the courts.

According to Pars Today, Teresa Ribera, the Spanish official at the European body, is a vocal critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. In her speech on Thursday, she openly and, for the first time, used the term genocide to describe Israel’s actions.

In her speech at Sciences Po University, Ribera told students: “The genocide in Gaza reflects Europe’s inability to act and its lack of a unified voice, even as protests have spread across European cities and 14 members of the UN Security Council have called for an immediate ceasefire.”

Ribera’s remarks were quickly criticized by Israeli officials, who accused her of acting as a spokesperson for Hamas.

Meanwhile, European Union spokespersons, during a press conference in Brussels, the bloc’s headquarters, on Friday, expressed their disagreement with Ribera’s remarks.

Paula Pinheiro, a senior spokesperson for the European Commission, told reporters: “Judgment on this question and its definition does not fall within the Commission’s authority; it is actually the responsibility of the courts, and no decision has been made by the Commissioners on this specific matter.”

In response to a journalist’s question asking, “Does the Commission agree with Ribera’s position?” she replied: “The Commission has no position on this issue.”

Anwar Al-Anouni, spokesperson for the European Union on foreign affairs and security policy, fully supporting Pinheiro’s statements, claimed: “From the perspective of defining genocide, determining whether international crimes, including genocide, have occurred falls within the jurisdiction of national courts as well as competent international courts and tribunals.”

This stance by the European Commission reflects the bloc’s actual approach toward Israel’s crimes in Gaza, particularly regarding genocide and the use of starvation as a weapon against Palestinians. Despite some superficial condemnations by European institutions and officials, the position of other Commission members—as the executive body of the EU—contrasting with the explicit remarks of Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s Executive Vice President, on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, demonstrates that in practice the European Union supports Israel and therefore refrains from any measures to sanction or punish the Israeli regime.

Importantly, the foreign ministers of European Union countries, during their informal meeting on August 30 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, intended to decide on ways to pressure the Israeli regime to end the war in Gaza. However, the meeting turned into a display of their disagreements.

Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief, stated after the meeting that EU members still hold differing views on the Gaza war. She acknowledged that these disagreements damage the European Union’s international credibility.

She said: “It is clear that member states disagree on how to effect change in Israel’s course of action. The options are clear and still on the table. We have presented the options, but the problem is that not all EU member states agree with them.”

Meanwhile, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the largest independent professional organization in this field, recently declared that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Based in France, the network noted that the decision of its 500-member international body could lead to further isolation of Israel in global public opinion and add to the growing list of organizations using this term to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars has accused Israel of crimes including “deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure” in the Gaza Strip, and called on it to immediately “halt all actions that constitute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.”

However, the Israeli regime rejected the accusation, calling the association’s resolution “a disgrace to the legal profession.”