EU Commission: Ribera spoke in personal capacity on Gaza; no decision on term ‘genocide’

Brussels – Teresa Ribera did not speak on behalf of the Commission. The Vice President, who yesterday (4 September) defined Israel’s massacre in Gaza as a ‘genocide’, did so on her own behalf. Exclusively. 

The continued reluctance of the von der Leyen executive to explicitly condemn what Israel’s army is doing in Gaza was certified by spokesperson Paul Pinho, who clarified today that “it is not for the Commission to judge definitions,” and, therefore, on the definition of genocide, “there is no decision by the College.” 

The Commission, through its foreign affairs spokesman, takes refuge behind the judiciary, stating that these definitions “are a matter for the national and international judiciary, after having properly established the facts.”