Western exceptionalism

‘Emergency summit’ in Bogotá

In the Columbian capital, Bogotá, a number of countries making up The Hague Group came together last Tuesday for their first ‘emergency summit’. The organisation was founded on 31 January in The Hague to stop further violations of international law by Israel in the Gaza war. It seeks to call those responsible for war crimes to account. This move also means countering the “exceptionalism” of Western states and the “broader erosion of international law”, as South Africa’s minister for international relations, Roland Lamola, expressed the group’s mission last week.[1] Apart from South Africa the members of The Hague Group include Bolivia, Honduras, Columbia, Cuba, Malaysia, Namibia und Senegal. The group is pushing above all for an end to arms supplies to Israel. Also invited to the ‘emergency summit’, which finished on Wednesday, are around two dozen other countries. Although most of these can be described as part of the Global South, they also include some European states like Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, and Norway. The meeting is intended as a forum for finding new ways of isolating Israel in response to its blatant war crimes in the Gaza Strip and stopping the ongoing violence against Palestinians.[2]

The double standards of the West

Shortly before the summit, twenty-seven former ambassadors from a whole series of
European nations had addressed an open letter to European Commissioners Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and other key figures demanding concrete action to prevent Israel from continuing its assaults and its violations of international law. The open letter notes that while the 7 October 2023 massacre of civilians can “never be justified” and that the signatories “unequivocally condemn those crimes”,[3] the Israeli military had, they wrote, killed many tens of thousands of Palestinians, including “an alarming number of children”. The scale of the destruction of homes and hospitals, of schools and even food distribution centres was “appalling”. The reaction of the Israeli government to the massacre of October 7, 2023 had therefore been “indiscriminate and completely disproportionate”. If the EU fails to act, this failure will “further tarnish its already damaged reputation” in the Middle East and the wider world. The West will face yet more criticism of its double standards.

‘A concentration camp’

Israel itself is seeing a resurgence of protests against the actions of the ultra-right government headed by Benjamin Netanjahu. The domestic critics have now been joined by figures such as former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who once belonged even the Netanjahu’s Likud Party. Olmert, who initially supported Israel’s hard military response to October 7, has since declared that, for him, a limit was exceeded when, in the spring, Netanjahu broke off talks on ending the war. Since then he has been openly confirming Israeli war crimes. At the weekend he spoke about government plans to set up a closed-off area on the ruins of Rafah to serve as a camp, initially taking in 600,000 Palestinians. This is the so-called “humanitarian city” announced by Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz. In Olmert’s words, “It is not to save them. It is to deport them, to push them, to throw them away. There is no other understanding.”[4] This, he tells The Guardian newspaper, is nothing other than “part of an ethnic cleansing.” On the projected camp itself, Olmert concludes, “It is a concentration camp. I’m sorry.” This term is being used by a growing number of Israeli opponents of their government’s extreme policies.

‘No further discussion’

The EU, by contrast, is continuing to quell the growing criticism of Israel – under pressure above all from Germany. On 23 June the EU foreign ministers were already discussing a report to the European Commission that was supposed to examine Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the country’s Association Agreement with the EU. The report is said to be “worded as cautiously as possible”, [5] yet despite this the authors cannot avoid conceding that there are “signs” that Israel has broken its human rights commitments made under Article 2 of the Association Agreement. Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares has responded by demanding the immediate suspension of the agreement and called for weapon supplies to the IDF to be halted. This initiative has been obstructed by the far-right governments of Italy and Hungary as well as by Germany. Foreign minister Johann Wadephul simply declared that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East and a close ally of Germany. This, he said, was why there should be “no further formal discussion” of a possible suspension of the Association Agreement.[6] The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, sought to play down the violations and avoid punishment with the words that one hoped for “concrete improvements” and “if the situation doesn’t improve, then we can also discuss further measures.”

No action

Hoping for some improvement is all the EU foreign ministers could come up with at their meeting last Tuesday. Since the previous meeting on 23 June hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including large numbers of children, have been shot while attempting to access food at distribution centres organised by Israel. The outrage around the world is palpable.[7] And in this period there has also saw the announcement of the plans to force Palestinians into a fenced-off camp built on the rubble of Rafah – a policy that Israeli critics, including former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, refer to as building a “concentration camp”. The EU foreign ministers, however, argued on Tuesday that considerably more aid trucks were managing to enter the Gaza Strip in recent days, and that three crossing points were again open. This, being a positive development, justified their objection to a suspension of the Association Agreement.[8] Spanish foreign minister Albares asked just how one could, after everything that has happened, still count on the “good will” of the Israeli side. He was ignored, along with the catalogue of sanctions – draw up apparently as a matter of form – that the EU could theoretically impose on Israel. But in practice even sanctions that would only require a qualified majority will not be applied. Germany and Italy only need to bring a few other counties on their side to gain a blocking minority. Israel remains practically immune to European sanctions.

[1] Sondos Asem: Exclusive: Spain and Ireland to join more than 30 states to declare ‘concrete measures’ against Israel. middleeasteye.net 10.07.2025.

[2] Diego Stacey: Colombia hosts first Hague Group summit to finalize action against Israel’s Gaza offensive. english.elpais.com 15.07.2025.

[3] An Open letter on Israel/Palestine. ceps.eu 14.07.2025.

[4] Emma Graham-Harrison: ‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM. theguardian.com 13.07.2025.

[5], [6] Thomas Gutschker: Auf Amerika angewiesen. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 24.06.2025.

[7] Nir Hasson, Yaniv Kubovich, Bar Peleg: ‘It’s a Killing Field’: IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid. haaretz.com 27.06.2025.

[8] Thomas Gutschker: Zehn Optionen auf dem Tisch. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 16.07.2025.