In mid-March the first relief ship docked in Gaza, carrying food for a besieged people. The vessel was the Open Arms. It usually rescues people in distress in the central Mediterranean – the world’s deadliest migration route, where volunteer ships have stepped in while Europe stands by. This time, the Catalan ship had sailed into the breach of a different crisis on the Mediterranean shoreline – but one just as artificial, just as preventable and also involving deep European complicity.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen landed in Egypt, flanked by member-state leaders, to ink a deal with Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Cloaked in niceties about co-operation and development and vague calls for a Gaza ceasefire, the deal nevertheless had one aim: enlisting Egyptian support in preventing migration to Europe.
Israeli debate about driving displaced Gazans across the Rafah crossing into Egypt cannot have been far from European leaders’ minds. Von der Leyen could have used the moment to clearly demand an end to a genocidal campaign which European states have armed and abetted. Instead, the EU moved to insulate itself from collateral damage.
Tall tales
The Gaza war is the second in two years on Europe’s periphery, and a formative test for a trading bloc assuming the role of a state. As bombs began raining down on Gaza last autumn, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in China that the EU ‘has
