Josep Borrell also criticizes the EU response to what he calls the greatest ethnic cleaning operation since World War II
EU former head chief Josep Borrell launched a violent attack on Israel, accusing his government of committing genocide in Gaza and “carries out the largest ethnic cleaning operation since the end of World War II to create a splendid vacation destination.”
Borrell, former Spanish Foreign Minister who acted as the main EU diplomat from 2019 to 2024 and president of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007, also criticized the bloc’s failure to use all means at his disposal to influence Israel, saying that expressions of repentance were simply not enough.
Upon receiving the European Award Carlos V before Dignitarians, including King Felipe, in southwest Spain, on Friday, Borrell said the horrors Israel suffered in Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 did not justify the horrors that later inflicted in Gaza.
“We have been facing the largest ethnic cleaning operation since the end of World War II, in order to create a splendid vacation destination after all millions of tons of rubble is removed from Gaza and the Palestinians have died or gone away,” he said in a characteristically direct speech.
The former Diplomat accused Israel of violating all the rules of conflict and using the hunger of Gaza’s civilian population as a “weapon of war.”
“Three times more explosive power has been released on Gaza than used in the Hiroshima bomb,” he said. “And for months, nothing has been in Gaza. Nothing: neither water, nor food, no electricity, nor fuel, nor medical services. [Benjamin] Netanyau said and did. ”
He added: “We all know what is happening there and we all hear the objectives stated by the ministers of Netanyau, who are clear statements of genocidal intention. He rarely heard the leader of a stately outlined state a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide.”
Borrell continued to criticize Europe for dodging his moral and humanitarian responsibilities in relation to Gaza.
“Europe has the capacity and the means not only to protest against what is happening, but also to influence conduct [de Israel]”He said.” But it’s not doing that. We provide half of the pumps that are falling on Gaza. If we really believe that many people are dying, the natural answer would be to provide fewer weapons and use the association agreement lever to demand that international humanitarian law be respected rather than just regretting that this is not happening. ”
King Felipe of Spain applauds after granting Borrell the European Award Carlos V. | Mariscal/EPA
The socialist political veteran also took advantage of his discourse to reflect on current geopolitical realities, which he described as unprecedented. The post-1945 world order, he said, was being demolished by Vladimir Putin, “a tyrant whose military failure in Ukraine made him more dangerous,” and Donald Trump, whom he described as “the master of chaos, who passed from ally to the opponent.”
The question that Europe faces, he added, is how it would deal without the protections have long offered by its former ally across the Atlantic.
“To deal with this situation, we need to move from structural pacifism to strong rearmament, but we need to do it on a European scale if we want to avoid the waste that arouses the old national demons,” said Borrell.
“We need to abandon a comfortable and atavistic atlantism that made us delegate our security to the US to build full European sovereignty, which will also mean giving Europe a tax and security dimension.”
He said Europe was no longer the great driver or chronicler of world history.
“Today, the story has become an imported product,” Borrell added. “The story was written by the Russian soldiers who marched towards Kiev in the early hours of a February morning and the Ukrainians who resisted. The story is being written by the American voters who put Mr. Trump back to the White House.”
The story, he continued, was now the history of technological competition between the US and China. In what seemed to be a critique of Trump, Borrell added: “The faces of history today are Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. None of them are European. I know them – well, I know them a little – and I can guarantee that of these three, two are smarter than the third.
Originally published by The Guardian on 09/05/2025
By Sam Jones in Madrid
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/05/10/israel-esta-cometendo-genocidio-em-gaza-diz-ex-diplomata-de-alto-escalao-da-ue/
