Jerusalem Post Explains Hungarian Veto on EU’s Rafah Offensive Statement
February 22, 2024
4,820
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz
Hungarian diplomacy has twice blocked an EU statement against the Israel Defense Force’s planned military operation against Hamas in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, that called for a “humanitarian pause” to the military operations, The Jerusalem Post has reported.The question is, what political interest lead Hungary to go its own path against the rest of EU member states again.
Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, had reportedly attempted to issue a consensus statement that would have been signed by all 27 member states. The statement would have called for an immediate halt to Israeli plans to launch a military operation against Hamas in the Rafah area of the Gaza strip that is currently a refuge to nearly one and a half million Palestinians.
Borrell’s first attempt came during the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, then during a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. According to the Jerusalem Post (JP), Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had personally called Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and asking him to block the statement. Szijjártó then reportedly called Katz back to inform him that Hungary had blocked the statement. Katz then updated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported the JP.
If the EU had succeeded issuing such statement of consensus unanimously against Israel, this would have put Prime Minister Netanyahu under immense pressure, and could have handed the Hamas, and its backer Iran, a much needed propaganda weapon. On Monday Borrell told reporters that not all member states have supported the statement, without naming Hungary specifically, explained that he had received the support of 26 member states for the statement but did not name the member state that opposed it. He said that
I know that if there is not unanimity, then there is not an EU position. But there can be a position that is based on a big majority, and without being a formal EU position, it is nonetheless a majority position. And 26 out of 27 is indeed a majority position”.
Josep Borrell (R) with the Hungarian Foreign Minister. Photo: Facebook Péter Szijjártó
The international community is clearly worried about the well-being of Palestinian civilians who have been internally displaced due to the Israeli military operation that followed the 2022 October 7 terror attacks. Nevertheless, investing a lot of political capital, Hungarian diplomacy had decided to go it alone against the statement, reinforcing the Hungarian government’s position as one of Israel’s chief allies within the EU.
Earlier in February Hungary had blocked proposed EU sanctions on radical Israeli settlers using violence to take over Palestinian lands in the West Bank, but this proposal was also blocked by Israel’s other historic ally in Europe, the Czech Republic. Although if asked about the rationale behind their position on unequivocally supporting Israel, as in the past, the Hungarian government could simply reply that they take this position simply because it is the right thing to do. Yet in his communications Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has traditionally been particularly emphatic about distinguishing between matters of principle, and those of strategic interest. As far a the latter is concerned, the full scale of the Hungarian strategy towards supporting Israel against strong international headwinds remains to be revealed.
Related article
Republican Senator Says U.S. Will Need to Reassess Its European Allies
Senator J. D. Vance shed light on who might be allies of the US conservatives in Europe.Continue reading
Jerusalem Post; Featured Image: Facebook Israel Katz
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.