EU Chief Points Finger at US over West’s Different Approaches to Ukraine, Palestine
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The head of the EU's foreign policy, Josep Borrel, acknowledged in an interview that international relations are rife with double standards after being questioned about why Brussels was much more eager to support the people of Ukraine than the people of Gaza.
He blamed the US for the Middle East conflict and said that the EU had no control over it.
“We are often criticized for double standards. But international politics is to a large degree about applying double standards. We do not use the same criteria for all problems,” he told El Pais newspaper, as cited on Thursday.
Earlier in the interview, Borrell had said that supporting Kiev against Moscow was a “moral imperative” for Western nations.
“Resolving the situation with those people trapped in an open-air prison, which Gaza is, is not in the hands of the EU,” the diplomat said. He called the squalid living conditions in Gaza “scandalous” and “a shame,” but would not be drawn on the origins of the humanitarian crisis, RT reported.
Gaza has been under a brutal blockade by Israel for years. The latest hostilities, during which Israel launched airstrikes on the coastal enclave, occurred this month and ended in a truce on Monday.
Borrell explained that “there is no solution to the Middle East conflict without a very strong commitment on the part of the US.” Many attempts were made in the past, but at the moment there appears to be no path forwards, he concluded.
The US has demonstrated unwavering support of Israel, even as it continued building illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories and took other actions that antagonized the Palestinian people.
Critics of Washington, including the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, said it has long lost its credibility as an impartial mediator in the conflict.
