Von der Leyen says Israeli West Bank settlements are 'utterly unacceptable' during Cork visit

Ms von der Leyen said she wanted to "set the record straight".

“We are the world’s largest provider of assistance to the Palestinian people. No one does more than us,” Ms von der Leyen said.

She cited more than €2.7bn allocated in the EU budget for humanitarian aid, as well as 5,600 tonnes of essential supplies.

However, Ms von der Leyen acknowledged there were problems with Palestinians accessing that aid.

“On the West Bank settlers, we share the analysis that the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is utterly unacceptable and the violence used to achieve this expansion is abhorrent.

“This undermines the future of the two-State solution, which in our view, is the only viable solution or path to lasting peace and the situation is clearly deteriorating.”

Sanctions

Ms von der Leyen said the Commission had brought forward proposals 10 months ago to suspend trade elements of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, but member states had not reached agreement.

“This would have a significant economic impact, but this proposals remains on the table of the member states to vote with a qualified majority, so the ball is in the courts of the member states.

She said sanctions had already been agreed against violent Israeli settlers and Hamas leaders, but that sanctions against Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had not yet secured agreement.

Ms von der Leyen's comments come a week after a UN Commission of Inquiry report alleged that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted Palestinian children and committed genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The report alleges, in particular, that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children", adding that the killings continued beyond the October ceasefire.

EU Presidency priorities

The European Commission president was speaking alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a joint press conference at UCC as part of events marking Ireland's EU Presidency.

Mr Martin said he was looking forward to the Commission presenting its proposals on trade with Israel.

During the press conference, Ms von der Leyen also said she wanted Ireland's presidency to make progress on housing, citing plans to host a high-level housing summit before the six-month presidency concludes.

“This is one of the defining social challenges of our time and people expect us to deliver,” Ms von der Leyen said.

Ms von der Leyen added that negotiations on the future EU budget would also be a priority during the presidency, saying they would require "a lot of hard work".

Mr Martin described the previous EU budget negotiations in 2020 as "exhaustive", adding that EU leaders had not indicated to him that they wanted to defer the next round of talks until 2027.

Asked to rate the likelihood of budget negotiations being completed before the end of Ireland's presidency on a scale of one to 10, the Taoiseach said he would place it at "seven or eight".

The meeting included discussions between the Irish Cabinet and the European Commission's College of Commissioners on the priorities for Ireland's EU Presidency over the next six months.