International Justice

The following is an extract from her speech:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s heinous crimes shocked us all. They deserve firm, unambiguous condemnation. The victims and their families deserve our strong support and solidarity. Hostages must be released, and those responsible for war crimes must be held to account. There is never any justification for targeting innocent civilians, but the very same principle is true when it comes to Israel's response to crimes by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. 

You cannot cut food, water, electricity that are vital for the lives of over 2 million people who have been living in a blockade for sixteen years. You cannot wipe out entire families, let a health system be destroyed, raze entire districts to the ground, refer to people as animals. You can't punish an entire population by preventing desperately needed aid from reaching them. 

International humanitarian law is clear. Atrocities from one side do not justify atrocities from the other side. No party to any conflict is above international humanitarian law. Israeli and Palestinian lives have the same dignity and attacks on either should spark the same level of indignation. But regrettably, this is not the message of your [EU] resolution last week.  

When double standards are exposed the motives of the EU are questioned and its credibility is eroded.  

Impunity fuels abuses. 

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The full statement is available here.