Germany and Italy blocked a bid to suspend a key European Union trade pact with Israel on Tuesday, as European Union foreign ministers met to discuss the bloc’s relationship with Israel.

Three member nations – Spain, Slovenia and Ireland – had requested that the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel be reconsidered because of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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While it has been blocked this week, the move is a reflection of growing unease across the continent over Israel’s conduct in the occupied Palestinian territories in recent years, as well as mounting calls for action from rights groups over Israel’s growing list of human rights abuses.

In Luxembourg on Tuesday, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters. “I expect every European country to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defence of international law,” he said. “Anything different would be a defeat for the European Union.”

The bloc remains divided on its ties to Israel, however. Countries such as Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, in particular, are reluctant to take any drastic steps, meaning any move towards full suspension of the agreement is unlikely in the near future.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called Spain’s request “inappropriate”, saying any issues had to be discussed in a “critical, constructive dialogue with Israel”.

So, what is the EU-Israel agreement, and why is it so controversial?

What is the EU-Israel Association agreement?

The agreement, which came into effect in 2000, grants Israel preferential access to EU markets and supports cooperation within key areas such as trade, research and diplomacy.

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The European Union is Israel’s largest trading partner, making the agreement a major part of their relationship.

A central feature of the deal is its human rights clause, known as Article 2, which states that cooperation is “based on respect for human rights and democratic principles”.

This clause is at the heart of the current debate, as critics argue that violations by Israel could justify suspending the agreement, either fully or in part.

Who is calling for the suspension?

Calls to suspend the agreement have been made by several governments, rights groups and EU citizens, particularly those who have long condemned Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza.

Within the EU, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia are leading efforts to push for a review and suspension of the agreement, arguing that the bloc must act in line with its legal and human rights commitments.

“We need to act. We need to make sure that our fundamental values are protected,” Helen McEntee, Ireland’s foreign minister, said in Luxembourg.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said while Brussels is calling for at least a partial suspension, a “full suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European ⁠⁠countries”.

In a statement addressed to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen on Thursday, more than 60 human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, called on the EU and member states to “adopt long-overdue measures, including suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements and suspending all transfers and transit of arms to Israel”.

Public pressure has also grown significantly. On April 15, The Justice for Palestine European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) successfully gathered one million signatures, three months after it was launched, in support of its campaign demanding that Brussels halt the association agreement.

The campaign accuses Israel of committing genocide, maintaining an illegal occupation and enforcing an apartheid system against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

As a result of the number of signatures it has gathered, according to EU law, the European Commission is “required to react, and decide what, if any, action it will take in response to the initiative, justifying its decision”.

Why are they calling for the suspension?

Mainly because of anger about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 71,000 people have been killed in Israel’s war, and in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian villages and communities have come under increased attacks by Israelis from illegal settlements and raids by Israeli forces.

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Gaza

Israel’s two-year genocide in Gaza has become the catalyst for growing calls to end the association agreement.

Since Israel’s war on the coastal enclave began on October 7, 2023, more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Many thousands of people more are missing, lost under the rubble and presumed dead.

Despite a US-led “ceasefire” agreement which was reached between Israel and Hamas last October, Israeli forces have continued to launch attacks and strikes on Gaza on a near-daily basis, killing more than 700 Palestinians since then, and continuing to severely restrict essential aid from entering the war-devastated coastal enclave.

A UN inquiry in September last year found genocidal intent in Israel’s war on Gaza, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war.

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against Israel, accusing it of conduct amounting to genocide in Gaza. That case is ongoing.

And, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”, the ICC said.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for “crimes against humanity” in relation to the Hamas-led assault on army outposts and villages in southern Israel on October 8, 2023, when more than 1,000 Israelis were killed, and more than 200 were captured and taken to be held in Gaza. Deif’s death in an Israeli air strike on Gaza was confirmed in January 2025.

Occupied West Bank

Concerns also extend to the occupied West Bank, where rising settler violence against Palestinians has received widespread condemnation by European governments. The violence, which Palestinians and activists say is ignored and often supported by the Israeli armed forces, has prompted discussions within the EU about possible sanctions targeting “extremist settlers“.

The continued building of illegal Israeli settlements has further intensified criticism, as it is seen by many European nations as undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.

A familiar pattern is that outposts are established at the edges of Palestinian villages, after which sustained and often violent harassment, including diverting water supplies, killing or stealing livestock and destroying solar panels, of the communities living there begins. Once the members of a community have been driven out, an illegal Israeli settlement is built on the site. These illegal settlements then gain retrospective approval from the Israeli authorities at some point later on.

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In December last year, 14 countries, including the UK, Canada, Denmark and France, condemned Israel’s approval of 19 ⁠⁠settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying the move was illegal and jeopardised the Gaza ceasefire and “long-term peace and security across the region”.

In the same month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory had reached its highest level since at least 2017.

International law stipulates that occupying powers like Israel must not move their own civilian populations into occupied Palestinian territory, such as the West Bank, where about 700,000 settlers now reside.