EU’s Von der Leyen’s Gift to Hamas

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement to suspend trade benefits and bilateral payments to Israel marks a pivotal shift in the EU’s relationship with the Middle East. Framed as a principled stance in response to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, the decision is being hailed in some corners as a defense of human rights. But in practice, it reveals a staggering double standard, one that weakens the EU’s moral authority, emboldens terror organizations like Hamas, and undermines the very goals of peace and accountability.

If human rights violations are the benchmark, why is Israel being singled out? The EU maintains strong economic and diplomatic ties with regimes like China, accused of genocide against its Uyghur population, Saudi Arabia, known for its repression of dissent, and Iran, which openly funds and arms Hamas. Yet only Israel, a democratic nation defending itself against terrorism, is facing suspended trade privileges. This isn’t moral clarity—it’s moral confusion.

Meanwhile, even as Brussels freezes bilateral support to Israel, it continues funnelling aid to Palestinian institutions, despite repeated and well-documented cases of diversion to extremist-linked actors. For years, European taxpayers have unknowingly supported a system in which the Palestinian Authority rewards terrorism through mechanisms like the so-called “Martyrs Fund,” which pays salaries to the families of convicted attackers. Hamas, for its part, has long redirected humanitarian aid toward its war effort—constructing terror tunnels and stockpiling weapons in civilian areas. If accountability is truly the goal, then why does this continue unchecked?

For Hamas, the EU’s decision is nothing short of a propaganda victory. It sends a clear and dangerous signal: provoke a war, generate civilian casualties, and the world will rally to your cause, not because it supports you, but because it condemns your enemy. In doing so, the EU reinforces the perverse incentive structure that encourages further violence. Hamas has always understood that images of suffering, especially when stripped of the context of its own actions can shift international opinion. Europe is now playing directly into that strategy.

In one of her strongest recent statements, von der Leyen accused Israel of triggering a “man-made famine” in Gaza and of making a “clear attempt” to undermine the two-state solution. She also lamented Europe’s failure to form a coherent response as “painful.” But the pain she describes seems more reflective of Europe’s own moral paralysis than any real consequences for those perpetuating the conflict. Hamas has weaponized the suffering of Gazans, embedding itself among civilians and exploiting humanitarian crises as cover. The EU, by disproportionately fixating on Israel’s response rather than Hamas’s aggression, is walking straight into this trap.

This approach also has real consequences for Israel’s ability to deter threats. When even a defensive war against an armed terrorist group results in sanctions and diplomatic isolation, Israel is left with an impossible choice: accept international condemnation or risk its own people’s safety. That is not a legitimate or fair dilemma. As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said, “If we have to choose between being dead and being pitied, I’d rather be alive and be criticized.” Her words remain painfully relevant. Israel does not seek isolation, but it will always choose survival over applause.

Ironically, the EU’s actions are undermining the very Palestinian moderates it claims to support. Voices advocating for peace and reform are being drowned out by the dominant narrative that terror and armed resistance elicit global sympathy and political gain. Instead of empowering those working toward coexistence, Europe is effectively legitimizing those who sabotage it. By punishing Israel, the EU ends up rewarding the very forces most hostile to peace.

A more principled course of action would have been for von der Leyen and the EU to halt all funding that could benefit Hamas and to apply real pressure on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its regional proxies. Had these actors felt isolated rather than tacitly supported, this war might have ended long ago. Instead, Israel has been left to fight alone—not just for its own survival and the safe return of its citizens, but arguably for the security of the broader West. The uncomfortable truth is that Israel is fighting Europe’s war, too.

Perhaps President von der Leyen should take a moment to reflect on Europe’s own history, and on what it truly means to abandon a democratic ally in its hour of need. While she delivered her State of the Union address, 48 Israeli hostages remained trapped in Gaza, many of them subjected to horrific abuse. Among them is Evyatar David, a 24-year-old abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. In a video released by Hamas, he appears skeletal and gaunt, marking days in a cramped tunnel and digging what he fears will become his own grave. His desperate plea was clear: “Time is running out.”

The suffering of the hostages is beyond dispute. The world has seen the haunting images of those who were eventually released—malnourished, unrecognizable, and psychologically shattered. Eli Sharabi, who was held for 491 days, lost 44 kilograms while in captivity. That is not the result of illness or pre-existing conditions. That is the result of systematic starvation—deliberate cruelty at the hands of Hamas. And yet, humanitarian food aid continues to flow daily into Gaza. If only Israel’s own civilians, its hostages, had received even a fraction of the care afforded to those in Gaza under Hamas control.

One must ask: when von der Leyen speaks of famine, is she referring to the images of malnourished Palestinian children who suffer from long-term medical conditions unrelated to this war or to the hostages like Evyatar David and Eli Sharabi, starved and brutalized in Hamas tunnels beneath the earth? I am guessing the former.

Europe has an important role to play in shaping a just and lasting peace. But that role cannot be fulfilled through selective morality or political appeasement. It must rest on a foundation of moral consistency, genuine accountability, and an unambiguous stand against terrorism.

By punishing Israel while continuing to fund and legitimize those who glorify violence, the EU risks becoming not just a bystander to this conflict, but an enabler. And the cost of that hypocrisy will be paid not only in failed diplomacy, but in innocent lives.