N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
It is on the agenda for the meeting of the EU leaders today in Copenhagen. US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, unveiled on Monday at the White House and accepted by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has thrown a serious spanner in the works for some anti-Israel leaders or offers a welcome reason for a delay for others.
German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, France President Emmanuel Macron and many other national leaders rallied behind the peace plan. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the international aid flotilla on his way to Gaza led by the former climate activist Gretha Thunberg to immediately cease its action. ‘Many would be only too happy to disrupt US President Trumps’s peace plan’, Meloni said.
It is clear that at this stage any attempt to impose EU sanctions on Israel would send the wrong signal and risk being counterproductive. It would punish the one that accepted a framework aligned with EU priorities.
Trump gave the terrorist group Hamas three to four days from yesterday to respond. From the Middle East there are approving reactions about the Trump plan. For instance Quatar and Saudi Arabia expressed their support for it. Hamas is therefore under heavy pressure to accept. And if not? Israel will have the full support of the US to finish the ‘job in Gaza’.
