{"id":454625,"date":"2026-05-25T11:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/25\/pena-di-morte-in-israele-e-crisi-di-hormuz-lue-balbettante-mostra-i-suoi-limiti\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T12:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T10:22:42","slug":"death-penalty-in-israel-and-the-strait-of-hormuz-crisis-a-faltering-eu-reveals-its-limitations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/25\/death-penalty-in-israel-and-the-strait-of-hormuz-crisis-a-faltering-eu-reveals-its-limitations\/","title":{"rendered":"Death penalty in Israel and the Strait of Hormuz crisis: a faltering EU reveals its limitations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The death penalty in Israel? “The European Union urges Israel to uphold its commitment to democratic principles.<\/strong>” The EU\u2019s response to US President Donald Trump\u2019s threats regarding maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz? It is unclear. Whatever the question, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, demonstrates just how incapable the EU executive is of handling the biggest, most strategic issues \u2013 those that would require decisiveness and determination, yet instead see the College of Commissioners stammering. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Arab-Israeli conflict and the war in Iran: two highly topical issues of major geostrategic significance, in the face of which the EU appears to be at a complete loss as to how to proceed. In addition, the spotlight is on the far from commendable approach of a Union capable of talking tough to those already in the corner, yet completely incapable of standing its ground when the other party wields significant economic and political clout. So, the Socialist (S&D), Greens, and radical left (The Left) MEPs ask<\/a> what the EU intends to do in response to the Israeli bill proposing the death penalty for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

 “The EU has a principled position against the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances,” Kallas replied, adding that the Israeli Parliament\u2019s approval of the draft law on the death penalty “marks a grave regression from
\nIsrael\u2019s own practice and commitments.” For this reason, the “EU is deeply concerned about the de facto
\ndiscriminatory character of the Bill, which violates international law.<\/strong>” These concerns have led to the “partial suspension of the Association Agreement with regard to certain trade-related matters,” which the High Representative defends, but compared with the 20 sanctions packages against Russia<\/a> adopted without hesitation, the difference is evident. When it comes to Israel, Brussels “urges Israel to abide by its previous principled position and with its obligations under
\ninternational law.”<\/p>\n

 https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/01\/08\/the-eu-also-refrains-from-taking-a-position-on-the-seizure-of-russian-shadow-ships-by-the-us\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the EU wavers and stutters, but in front of today\u2019s United States, it simply stays quiet. The Left MEP, Per Clausen\u200b\u200b<\/strong>, presses the EU with a parliamentary question<\/a> that is as clear in its preamble as in its demands. Trump\u2019s threats regarding restrictions on shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, he argues, \u201care not only manifestly illegal under international law, but they also create a situation in which vessels and crew from EU countries might potentially be attacked by US forces in the area.\u201d So, \u201cwhat concrete actions will the EU take?<\/strong>\u201d And furthermore, \u201cWill US attempts to block EU ships…constitute a clear case in which the EU\u2019s anti\u2011coercion mechanism should be triggered immediately?\u201d Kallas replies: \u201cThe EU will continue to defend the principle of freedom of navigation, in accordance with
\ninternational law.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 Once again, the response amounts to no response at all. The High Representative merely states that the EU “urges all involved in the conflict to fully ensure a toll-free and safe passage through the Strait
\nof Hormuz.\u201d But she offers nothing further. Only routine, formulaic statements. \u201cThe EU is engaged in the region through operation EU Naval Force ASPIDES, ensuring safe passage through the Red Sea.\u201d The operation, Kallas insists, \u201cincludes the Strait of Hormuz in its
\narea of operation and can help provide security to merchant vessels, once the war ends\u200b,\u201d<\/strong> though no one can say at present when it will end.<\/p>\n

In short, the EU just stutters. It appears small in the face of major issues, and remains subordinate in a world shaped by others, for better or worse, where the European Commission plays the role of spectator and supporting actor. Kallas speaks on behalf of an entire College that is revealing all its limitations. Of course, the Member States also bear responsibility. Indeed, Jean-Claude Juncker, when he was at the helm of the European Commission, had warned that Europe was incapable of rising to the occasion on major issues. Today, the EU is stuck where it was ten years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High Representative Kallas answers two questions on the Arab-Israeli crisis and the war in Iran, highlighting Europe\u2019s weakness in the face of major challenges and issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":440867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25711,25707],"tags":[25890,33830,27337,33614,33394,26326],"class_list":["post-454625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","category-world-politics","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-middle-east-en","tag-pena-di-morte","tag-ue","tag-states-united-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454626,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454625\/revisions\/454626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}