This was another European Council meeting that refused to hold Israel and the US to account for their destabilising actions in the Middle East or to acknowledge those actions. Where was the condemnation of the actions that started this war? Our trade partners are an exception to outrage when it comes to killing children, journalists, ambulance drivers, medical responders and innocent civilians. No one is here to defend Iran's human rights record but, if you were to read the conclusions of the European Council meeting, you would swear that Iran had fired the first shot. The line is that "Developments in Iran and the wider region threaten regional and global security." It is anyone’s best guess what developments are being talked about. The European Council assures us that it is "closely monitoring the far-reaching impact of the hostilities". The EU has shown itself to be a paper tiger. We are completely unwilling to use our collective diplomatic and economic power to prevent the US and Israel from riding roughshod over the region and killing who knows how many thousands of people in the process. It rained oil in Tehran but that is okay because Trump and Netanyahu murdered the ayatollah and some of his family. The European Council seems more concerned about "migratory flows towards the European Union" than ending conflicts and saving innocent lives. It has the gall to say that it will put an end to Iran's destabilising activities without a single word about Israel, bar a weak attempt at asking for it to stop invading quite so much of Lebanon. What more needs to be done for the EU-Israel association agreement to be scrapped? Is it another genocide like Gaza? The EU cannot credibly claim to uphold human rights while sustaining preferential trade with a state whose conduct has been found by multiple international bodies as amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Those are the words of the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine. It would not even be a trade sanction. It would be simply exercising Article 2 of the agreement that states Israel enjoys special trade privileges so long as it respects human rights. Israel has ethnically cleansed Gaza, expanded its presence in the West Bank and tried to take over 20% of Lebanon. Human rights must be non-negotiable. Israel has crossed every red line and engaged in countless breaches of human rights and international law. We either stand for human rights or we do not. We either stand for international law or we do not. If the EU is to have any credibility on international affairs, weak words like the Council's conclusions are not going to cut it any more.

Sentiment score: -0.08