EU reverses its decision to suspend aid to Palestinians

The European Commission walked back its decision to suspend aid to Palestinians within less than 12 hours, citing a concern for “EU interests in the region” and fear of “further emboldened terrorists.”

“The review of the EU's assistance for Palestine announced by the European Commission will not suspend the due payments, as clarified by the Commission’s press release,” the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Monday evening.

“The suspension of the payments - punishing all the Palestinian people - would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists,” he added.

He did not explain what he meant by “EU interests.”

In its press release, the European Commission merely stated that payments would be suspended, without giving any further explanations.  

“There will be no suspension of payments” the European Commission statement affirmed. 

According to the Associated Press: “A full European Commission statement always trumps a statement from an EU commissioner, but the reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities.”

News reports indicated that the EU may have reversed its decision because of internal disagreements among the various EU member states. For example, France and Spain said on Tuesday that they are against the suspension of aid to Palestinians. 

“We are not in favor of suspending aid that directly benefits the Palestinian people, and we made this clear to the European Commission yesterday,” the French Ministry of Foreign affairs said in a statement.

Spain’s acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares also declared that the Spanish government is against the suspension of European aid to Palestinians.

“This cooperation must continue, we cannot confuse Hamas, which is in the list of EU's terrorist groups, with the Palestinian population, or the Palestinian Authority or the United Nation's organizations on the ground,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish radio Cadena SER.

In addition, Albares said it is probable that Palestinians will be in need of more aid after Hamas' Saturday attack on Israel and Israel's ongoing bombardments of the Gaza Strip.

The EU’s reversal was criticized on Tuesday evening by Israeli-American law professor, Eugene Kontorovich.

“The EU imposed sanctions on Russia immediately after Ukraine, even though they hurt innocent Russians. But after considering suspending funds to Palestinians, they decided to keep the support flowing. Jewish blood not red enough apparently,” Kontorovich posted to X. 

Saeed Ghasseminejad, senior advisor and financial economist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) condemned the EU in a comment directed to Josep Borrell on X.

“We all know you support terrorists, from IRGC to Hamas, from Hezbollah to Ansar Allah; thank you for clarifying,” Ghasseminejad wrote.