In Sweden, Christian Democrats retract government support for sanctions against Israel.

Belgium said it will vote in favor of a partial suspension of Israel’s participation in the Horizon Europe research program along with several other EU member states, Belgian press agency Belga reported.

Belgian Foreign Minister announced his country’s change of position in a press release on Tuesday.

“This measure would be the first sanction against the Israeli government,” he said.

“This decision marks a turning point in relations between the European Union and Israel, and is a concrete response to the Israeli government’s violations of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and its humanitarian obligations towards the EU,” Prévot said.

“We call on the Commission to quickly propose further concrete measures within the framework of the Association Agreement,” the minister added. “Pressure must be increased on the Israeli government to ensure full and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza. At the same time, we once again call on Hamas to provide food to the Israeli hostages and to release them immediately and unconditionally. Respect for human rights is and remains non-negotiable.”

Two weeks ago, bowing to pressure from the most anti-Israel member states within the EU, Spain and Ireland,  the European Commission proposed to partially suspend Israel’s participation to Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation initiative, in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

‘’ The suspension specifically concerns the participation of entities established in Israel in activities funded under the Accelerator of the European Innovation Council (EIC),’’ the Commission said. Under this proposal, Israel would lose access to 200 million euros worth of future grants and investments in the EIC.

The Israeli foreign ministry strongly condemned the European Commission’s proposal, describing it as “wrong, regrettable, and unjustified.” ‘’Such a decision, in the midst of the fight against Hamas’ jihadist terrorism, would only strengthen the group and jeopardize the chances of a ceasefire and the release of hostages,’’ the ministry said in a statement.

‘’While Israel has announced a daily humanitarian pause in Gaza fighting and has met some of its commitments under the common understanding on humanitarian aid and access, the situation remains severe,’’ the Commission said, in a reference to the agreement reached last month between EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to ”significantly” increase the humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The EU Executive body’s proposal however failed to rally a needed qualified majority as two of the largest EU member states, Germany and Italy, opposed the move while favoring the continuation of the EU’s dialogue with Israel on the humanitarian aid as stipulated in the EU-Israel ”common understanding.”

And on Monday, EU embassadors of the 27 member states failed again to agree on the Commission proposal.

According to reports, only seven of the 27 representatives explicitly supported the proposal.

Among the supporters were France, Spain, and the Netherlands. These three governments felt that the Commission’s proposed sanctions did not go far enough in view of the plight in the Gaza Strip. Small EU states such as Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta also signaled their approval.

Five EU member states  openly opposed the Commission’s proposal: Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. They argued that suspending Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe  would harm the European Union’s own interests with regard to key technologies.

Some countries, like Sweden and Netherlands, once one of the best friends of Israel in Europewanted to follow in the footsteps of Spain and Ireland and go even further in sanctioning Israel’s trade relations with the EU.

But European Jewish Press learned on Wednesday that in a policy shift, Sweden’s Christian Democrats party, which is part of the governing coalition in Stockholm, said it is reconsidering its agreement to sanctioning Israel. ‘’Hamas bears primary responsibility for the war in Gaza and the suffering of its civilians,’’ said the party which  has made clear that pressure must be directed first and foremost at Hamas and its state sponsors — not at Israel, which is operating under extreme security threats.

‘’This policy shift from a governing party in Sweden sets an important precedent for other European democracies,’’ says David Lega, a former Swedish Christian-Democrat MEP who has been actively advocating against sanctions on Israel in his position as senior advisor of the Euopean Jewish Association (EJA).

“This is a strong and timely message. EJA’s persistent dialogue with leaders played a role in making this shift possible,” he adds.

Some individual EU states have taken other decisions to put pressure on the Israeli government. Spain, Belgium as well as Sloveniahave restricted arms exports to Israel. And with EU-level sanctions looking unlikely, Slovenia and the Netherlands also banned two Israeli ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Ben Gvir  from entering their territory earlier this month, accusing them of promoting “ethnic cleansing.”

In a visit to Israel last week,  German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned his Israeli counterpart that he risked isolation. The  German government has made it clear in Brussels that its position depends largely on Israel’s further actions

Any shift in Germany’s approach could determine whether planned EU sanctions will kick in, or remain an empty threat.

Israel says that the false starvation campaign must not serve as a basis for harming the EU–Israel relationship. Israel’s data on the scope of humanitarian aid actually exceeds what was agreed upon with the European Union, says Jerusalem, adding that the true victims of starvation are the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli officials stress that the humanitarian aid figures, along with the repair of infrastructure lines and the opening of crossings, clearly show that Israel is not preventing aid and certainly not acting to cause starvation

‘’The negative statements by some EU member states — particularly Sweden and the Netherlands — calling for continued harm to the Association Agreement and the expansion of punitive measures, while Israel has increased aid through constructive coordination with the EU, highlight more than anything that there is no genuine connection between the humanitarian situation and the attempt to harm Israel,’’ the official says. ‘’Israel is meeting its commitments and the EU must uphold its own by ,ot harming existing agreements.’’

Israel says it is committed to working to ensure that the (EU Commission) recommendation is not adopted by the EU Foreign Affairs Council (which is to meet informally in Copenhagen end of August), hoping for its rejection.