London, United Kingdom – Over 200 former EU ambassadors, member state diplomats and senior officials have signed an open letter urging the EU to take a harsher stance on Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.
The letter is addressed to the presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, as well as the heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers of all 27 EU member states.
The letter’s demands include the unilateral suspension or revocation of “arms export licenses to Israel”, the exclusion of “illegal settlement-linked companies from public procurement, state investment and sovereign wealth funds,” and a plea for individual nations to issue sanctions “on human rights grounds and counter-terrorism laws, including visa bans and assets freezes.”
Read more: Israeli ambassador urges the EU to stop “obsessing” over human rights in Gaza
Dr. Michael Doyle, an Irish diplomat who served as the EU ambassador to Lesotho between 2014 and 2017, told Irish Public Service Broadcaster RTÉ that he signed the open letter to push the European bloc to “act as a union and take solid measures to respond to the dreadful situation … in Gaza and in the West Bank”.
A pro-Palestine protest in Brussels, the political hub and de-facto capital of the European Union.
Image Source: APB asbl via X
The letter’s signatories, Doyle emphasised, also want to encourage groups of like-minded member states to enact their own national punitive measures against Israel in the event that the EU does not, as a union, unilaterally adopt the provisions of the letter.
Many former diplomats of individual European member states signed the letter, including 99 former national ambassadors from Germany, Italy and France. Between 2013 and 2023, Germany and Italy were the second and third-largest suppliers of weapons to Israel, accounting for 30% and 5% of total arms exports to Israel respectively. Since October 2023, France has reportedly delivered munitions and weaponry to Israel worth more than $10 million USD.
As of June 2025, the European Council – the EU body that defines the political direction and priorities of the bloc – is calling for Israel “to fully lift its blockade on Gaza to allow immediate distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale … [and] an immediate ceasefire in Gaza [including] the unconditional release of all [Israeli] hostages”.
However, the signatories of the letter decry the lack of “substantive measures […] taken by the EU to pressure Israel to end its brutal war, resume vital humanitarian assistance by mainstream providers, and dismantle its illegal occupation of both Gaza and the West Bank.”
Another group of 27 former EU ambassadors with experience serving in the Middle East and Africa had previously penned an open letter in July directed at key EU institutions, expressing their “deep concern about the EU’s response to developments since the heinous attacks of October 7th, 2023.”
Specifically, the ambassadors called on the EU to “keep pressure on [the Israeli government] to silence its guns and choose diplomacy over aggression.”
However, the Israeli Defence Forces have recently intensified their offensive in Gaza with the launch of an operation to seize Gaza City, the capital of the Gaza Governorate.
On August 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza”, said that Israel “intended to, in order to ensure our security” and remove Hamas from the territory.
Featured Image: President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola (centre), President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (right) and former President of the European Council Charles Michel (left) express solidarity with Israel after the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Image Credit: European Parliament via Wikimedia
License: Creative Commons Licenses
