{"id":403170,"date":"2026-04-21T09:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/403170\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:49:15","slug":"watch-europes-relationship-with-israel-is-fracturing-how-far-will-it-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/403170\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Europe\u2019s relationship with Israel is fracturing \u2014 how far will it go?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n         Published on<br \/>\n            21\/04\/2026 &#8211; 10:33 GMT+2\n            <\/p>\n<p>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez is on a mission, and he is not giving up.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday once again he will formally propose severing the EU\u2019s Association Agreement with Israel. The proposal has hit a wall multiple times. Will it work this time?<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of setting the Middle East on fire and has doubled down on his criticism of the Iran war and the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>Established in 2000, the EU-Israel Association Agreement is the bedrock of the economic and political relationship between the two.<\/p>\n<p>For months, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have demanded an urgent review. And the EU&#8217;s own internal review found Israel is in breach of the agreement, citing grave violations of international law in Gaza and violent settler evictions in the West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>Now, a European Citizens\u2019 Initiative titled Justice for Palestine with over 1 million signatures is forcing the issue onto the agenda.<\/p>\n<p>Crucially, a suspension would not mean a full trade ban. About 60% of Israeli exports to the EU already enjoy zero tariffs under standard WTO rules. <\/p>\n<p>However, the remaining 37% rely on special, duty-free treatment granted exclusively by this agreement. Suspending it would slap sudden tariffs on Israeli machinery, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p>The EU is Israel\u2019s largest trading partner, with a relationship worth more than \u20ac45 billion a year. <\/p>\n<p>The European Commission estimates this would impose an extra \u20ac227 million a year in duties on Israeli exports and freeze millions in bilateral EU funding for ongoing cooperation projects. <\/p>\n<p>And to fully scrap the deal, the EU needs everyone&#8217;s agreement. However, suspending just the trade privileges requires only a qualified majority vote. <\/p>\n<p>Although Israel has lost one of its staunchest allies in Viktor Orban&#8217;s Hungary, and with Italy taking a harder line amid attacks on Christian places of faith, the proposal still faces an uphill battle.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the Euronews video in the player above for the full story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 21\/04\/2026 &#8211; 10:33 GMT+2 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez is on a mission, and he is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1685,85,46,43,159701],"class_list":["post-403170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-european-union","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-us-israel-attack-on-iran-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}