[Interview] Irish liberal MEP Barry Andrews: ‘Trade measures are the EU’s only real leverage over Israel’

Irish MEP Barry Andrews’ active lobbying in the European Parliament to sanction illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, as well as his humanitarian work, have made him a vocal player in the centrist European party Renew. On Tuesday (28 July), he spoke to EUobserver about his pragmatic, trade-first diplomacy, and on navigating an Irish Council presidency. On Friday (24 July), you sent a letter alongside 70 other cross-party MEPs to EU commission president Urusla von der Leyen about ceasing trade with illegal settlements in Israel. Why has this been such a lagging process? I think there’s a feeling among the signatories of the letter that the council is deliberately slowing the decision-making on this issue, as we approach the elections on the 27 October in Israel. We also have the very firm view that the advisory opinion of the ICJ [International Court of Justice] mandates all signatories, including member states, to take steps to give the judgment effect, and that includes trade measures. Restricting trade is the only effective way, and this is an opinion that’s shared by millions of Europeans. We want to make sure the commission is aware that many in the European Parliament carry that view, too. How are the elections in Israel in October playing into this discussion of imposing trade restrictions? The fear is that the council will see this as a way to avoid making a decision to prevent undue interference with the election. But after the election, there’s likely to be a prolonged period of government formation, and the council will probably arrive at the same reasons for not interfering. That will probably take us a year into further slaughter in Gaza, violent settlement activity in the West Bank, probably approval of the massive development in East Jerusalem [an Israeli expansion project]. The whole idea of the letter is to express that frustration. We can't simply stand idly by and let all of this unfold. The EU has a positive obligation from the highest court in the world, and we have to act. You visited the West Bank back in May. What is your assessment of Israeli settlements in Palestinian land? Firstly, and I don't use the word likely, there was clear evidence of apartheid as it's understood under international law. In other words, systematic attempts to suffocate Palestinian life through the denial of rights, opportunities, commercial activity, and housing.