European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera has criticized Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her colleagues for failing to respond effectively to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning that “history will judge” the EU for its inaction.
Speaking on Spain’s Cadena Ser radio on July 30, Ribera said she had been urging the Commission “almost every week” for months to adopt a stronger stance against Israel’s military operations, which have devastated Gaza’s civilian population, News.Az reports, citing Politico.
In a rare public rebuke, Ribera lamented the deep divisions within the College of Commissioners, saying the deadlock reflects the broader lack of consensus among EU member states. “Institutionally it shouldn’t be so … but the truth is that everyone comes with their cultural context, their beliefs,” she said.
Ribera, Spain’s former deputy prime minister and a vocal critic of Israel’s actions, pointed to EU ambassadors’ refusal to back a proposal to restrict Israel’s access to the Horizon Europe research program as evidence of the bloc’s disunity. She added there was “no consensus” on stronger measures, such as suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement or imposing sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched in October 2023 after a Hamas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, has resulted in over 60,000 Palestinian deaths, nearly one-third of them children, according to Palestinian health authorities. UN-backed experts have warned of famine conditions due to Israeli-imposed restrictions on humanitarian aid.
Comparing Gaza’s suffering to the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, Ribera called on Europe to “react and consolidate itself as a political actor” while mobilizing the values on which the EU was founded. “We are in a race against time, with people dying of hunger … history will not look the other way,” she said.
