{"id":459264,"date":"2026-07-08T16:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/07\/08\/israele-la-sinistra-al-parlamento-europeo-liberare-hussam-abu-safiya\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:44:10","slug":"israel-the-left-in-the-european-parliament-free-hussam-abu-safiya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/08\/israel-the-left-in-the-european-parliament-free-hussam-abu-safiya\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel: The Left in the European Parliament: \u201cFree Hussam Abu Safiya\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

From our correspondent in Strasbourg<\/em> \u2013 \u201cFree Hussam Abu Safiya!<\/strong>\u201d In the European Parliament, Irish MEP Lynn Boylen<\/strong> (The Left) demonstrates that the case of the Palestinian doctor, who has become a symbol of Israel\u2019s annihilation of Palestine, has not been consigned to oblivion. In the Strasbourg Chamber, which once again brings to the fore familiar divisions and conflicts, and long-standing debates over sanctions that have never been imposed or are yet to be imposed, there are those who still give attention to the case of a man \u201carbitrarily arrested by Israel since December 2024,\u201d denounces the Irish MEP, who points the finger at Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government: \u201cHussam Abu Safiya has been beaten, he has been tortured, and his life is at risk.\u201d She then addresses the Commission and Member States: \u201cThe European Union must take urgent action to ensure the immediate release<\/strong> of Hussam Abu Safiya.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boylen\u2019s speech forms part of the debate initiated by the Socialist Group on the situation in Gaza and the reconstruction that must follow. So far, the story of Abu Safiya has been carried out by non-governmental organisations<\/a> and has been virtually absent from the political debate. The radical left-wing politician aims to include his story in the list of what the EU, she argues, should do in response to the Jewish state\u2019s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Boylen denounces the \u201cgenocide\u201d currently taking place and calls for \u201cthe suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement<\/a>,” alongside \u201csanctions\u201d against the Netanyahu government and its members, \u201cfull support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees\u201d (UNRWA), and compensation for \u201c1.50 million in EU infrastructure funded by taxpayers\u2019 money, for which Israel has not yet paid a single cent.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

On the subject of compensation, in a virtually deserted chamber, the Spanish Socialist Nacho Sanchez<\/strong> Amor<\/strong> (S&D) believes it is necessary and right for the EU to \u201cdemand the same from Israel as it does from Russia.\u201d This means that if Moscow must pay for Ukraine\u2019s reconstruction, then Tel Aviv \u201cmust pay to rebuild Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The European Parliament chamber, half-empty during the debate on Gaza [Strasbourg, 8 July 2026]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Danilo Della Valle<\/strong> (M5S\/the Left), \u201cthere is only one thing to be done to save the Union\u2019s dignity\u201d in the face of \u201cIsraeli genocide against the Palestinian people,\u201d namely \u201cto suspend the cooperation agreement with Israel.\u201d This call has also been made by Abir Al-Sahlani, an MEP for the European Liberals (RE), and is in line with the a similar call from the Socialists<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Amid the convergence of socialists, liberals, and the radical left in favour of a tough and decisive stance against the current Israeli administration, there has also been a direct attack on the European Commission. First up is Yannis Maniatis<\/strong> (S&D), who criticises the EU executive for attending the meeting of US President Donald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace: \u201cIt was a mistake to go; the Commission had no mandate. The visit should have been cancelled.\u201d Irene Montero<\/strong> (Podemos\/The Left) adds fuel to the fire, personally attacking the Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka \u0160uica, for representing the College at the debate: \u201cCommissioner, does President Trump have your phone number? Does he ring you on as it does with the FIFA president<\/a>? Does he ring you to ask you to support genocide<\/strong>?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The EPP is not taking the debate well, with Antonio Lopez Isturiz<\/strong> criticising the initiative and linking it to the difficulties faced by Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government in Spain: \u201cThis sort of debate crops up every time there\u2019s a problem in Spain,\u201d he argues, describing the discussion, against which he uses harsh language, as \u201cfruitless.\u201d \u201cI haven\u2019t heard a word yet about Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran,\u201d he presses, lending support to the far-right sovereigntist camp. \u201cIsrael is the only democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by millions of Muslims,\u201d emphasises the Austrian Harald Vilimisky<\/strong> (FPO\/PfE). Even from the benches of the Conservatives (ECR), the debate shifts to Israel\u2019s role and its responsibilities. \u201cThe reconstruction of Gaza must take place alongside the dismantling of terrorist structures,\u201d argues Alberico Gambino<\/strong> (FdI), in a clear reference to Hamas and in a context where right-wing parties are adopting an anti-Palestinian stance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the parliamentary debate on Gaza, the Left called for urgent action on behalf of the Palestinian doctor who has been detained since December 2024. Socialists and Liberals called for the suspension of the Association Agreement. Criticism was levelled at the Commission, with the EPP and right-wing parties standing alongside Tel Aviv<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":459241,"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":[25707],"tags":[25890,32012,34757,25755,34758,34759,27337,25804,26708,33394],"class_list":["post-459264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-danilo-della-valle-en","tag-ea","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-hussam-abu-safiya","tag-lynn-boylan","tag-middle-east-en","tag-sanctionsin","tag-session-plenary-en","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459264","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=459264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459265,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459264\/revisions\/459265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}