EU President Should Be Tried for Complicity in Israel's War Crimes, Says Top UN Expert on Palestine

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks to media in Brussels, Belgium, on October 26, 2023. Photo: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
As the International Court of Justice takes its next steps on investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Israel's war on Gaza, the top expert on Palestine at the United Nations is pushing for even more international accountability.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Intercept, U.N. special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, called for top European Union officials — including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — to face charges of complicity in war crimes over their support for Israel during its 18-month assault on Gaza.
'They will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity. '
'The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business as usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable,' Albanese said. 'I'm not someone who says, 'History will judge them' — they will have to be judged before then. And they will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity.'
Israel has killed more than 50,000 people and destroyed almost all of Gaza's civilian infrastructure since an attack by Hamas in October 2023. Most of the dead were civilians — including tens of thousands of women and children.
Israel's initial aim of returning hostages taken by Hamas morphed into a U.S.-backed vision for ethnically cleaning Palestinians from Gaza. To that end, Israel's army has intensified lethal attacks, along with a watertight embargo on food, water, electricity, and aid.
'It is impossible not to see this as an intent to exterminate,' the EU's former foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell wrote late last month.
A complaint against the Leyen, the European Commission president, was filed at the International Criminal Court last May for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Since taking office in December, the bloc's new foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has blamed Hamas for an Israeli decision to end its ceasefire in March, continued normal diplomatic relations, and vowed to 'stand in solidarity with Israel.'
'The 1948 Genocide Convention calls upon signatories to not only punish but also prevent genocide,' said Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst and non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. 'Here we have the two senior EU officials not only refusing to take even symbolic action to prevent genocide, but actively normalizing and supporting it in the full knowledge that their backing enables the crimes they nominally oppose.'
'So of course, Special Rapporteur Albanese's points and observations are spot on and entirely correct.'
A spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU's executive body, insisted that the bloc was still commited to international law, arguing that the Europeans' business and diplomatic relations with Israel allowed officials to express their 'positions and concerns.'
The spokesperson, Gioia Franchellucci, said, 'The association agreement with Israel is the legal basis of our ongoing dialogue with the Israeli authorities and it provides mechanisms to discuss issues and advance our point of views.'
Late last year, The Intercept revealed that an internal report by a top EU human rights official called for European countries to suspend all political relations and arms trading with Israel due to evidence of war crimes.
Beyond demanding accountability from EU leaders, Albanese said she is working on a report which will expose banks, pensions funds, tech companies, and universities for complicity in Gaza's destruction.
'All those implicated and involved in the unlawful occupation, in providing it with support, are aiding and abetting violations of international law and human rights violations and a number of these amount to crimes,' she said. 'There can be individual responsibility and individual liability for those who have been aiding and abetting or enabling such crimes.'
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Though the International Criminal Court has issued warrants for Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Middlesex University professor of international law William Schabas, an expert on genocide, said that prosecuting a senior EU figure would break with precedent.
'It's clear that there is a case,' he said. 'Not all of Israel's supporters around the world would be 'accomplices' but she's the head of a very important intergovernmental organisation and is encouraging Israel. But I think it's unreasonable to expect the prosecutor of the ICC to take it up because he's only issued a couple of arrest warrants identifying people in the Israeli government and hasn't shown any interest in going further afield than that.'
Schabas added, 'Von der Leyen is clearly reflecting a position taken by many EU governments, which is one of very unconditional support of Israel, and they're doing this flying in the face of public information suggesting that Israel is commiting terrible crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.'
The latest calls for legal accountability come as the International Court of Justice public hearing continues into Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian aid — and aid agencies — access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The court has previously ruled that Israel's actions in Gaza may plausibly amount to genocide and ordered Israel to allow in more aid.
The issue has triggered global political upheaval and, while playing it down, Albanese said that she and her family have been subjected to death threats since her report 'Anatomy of a Genocide' was published in March 2024.
'I come from a place that taught me that the mafia kills through silence. It kills when people don't react to it.'
'My safety has become of a less of a certainty since since I presented my 'Anatomy of a Genocide' report,' Albanese said. 'I've received calls in the middle of the night making threats to me, my family members, my children. Of course, I can't tell you that I'm 100 percent safe. Of course I'm taking precautions. Of course, where I live, I have protection — you never know! — but at the same time, I won't let myself be paralyzed because of these mafia-style techniques.'
'I come from a place that taught me that the mafia kills through silence,' she said. 'It kills when people don't react to it. This is why I'm so motivated in what I'm doing. I will continue to speak until I have no more air in my lungs.' Join The Conversation

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