Francesca Albanese says EU cutting trade ties with Israel would be 'seismic'

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, urged the European Union to suspend a trade association agreement with Israel during its EU-Southern Neighbourhood meeting on Monday. 

The EU is Israel's largest trading partner and investment partner, she said in a series of posts on X, and suspending an agreement would be "seismic". 

"Economic leverage is the single most powerful tool the EU holds to end Israel’s illegal occupation and ongoing genocide," she added.

The Italian human rights lawyer said that "maintaining trade with an economy inextricably tied to occupation, apartheid, and genocide is complicity" and EU leaders "face a choice: to deepen this appalling stain, or to finally uphold the values the Union claims to represent".

She dismissed vice-president of the European Commission Kaja Kallas's claims that the meeting was historic, saying, "'Historic' would be a meeting leading to the end of the genocide, the dismantling of Israel’s forever-occupation and apartheid, and the beginning of justice and accountability - in line with int'l law, and as per ICJ and ICC proceedings".