Ribera, in a speech at Sciences Po on Thursday, became the highest-ranking EU official to label Israel’s war on Gaza as “genocide.”
“The genocide in Gaza highlights Europe’s inability to act and unify its voice, even as protests grow across European cities and 14 U.N. Security Council members demand a swift ceasefire,” she told students.
Her remarks quickly faced criticism from Israel. Its foreign ministry called Ribera’s comments “baseless allegations,” asserting that she had “become a spokesperson for Hamas propaganda.”
Ribera, a consistent critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, used the term genocide explicitly for the first time in Thursday’s speech.
In an August interview with POLITICO, she remarked that the starvation, displacement, and deaths in Gaza “appear very much” like genocide and urged the EU to reconsider its Association Agreement with Israel.
Militants led by Hamas attacked from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in around 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians.
Ferdinand Knapp contributed to this report.
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