If there has ever been a blatant form of oblivion in the EU’s political communications, the European Council’s conclusions on 20 March exceed all previous examples. “The European Council is deeply alarmed by the dramatic military escalation in the Middle East and the risk this represents for the entire region,” it said in the introduction. One would expect that such vagueness would be followed by specifics.

Under the heading “Gaza”, the European Council completely failed to mention Israel. Or rather, refused to mention Israel, because such an omission was surely not unintentional.

The European Council’s conclusions would have read very differently had it acknowledged Israel’s culpability in the genocide, either by reinforcing Israel’s security narrative or — and this is highly unlikely — by taking a stance against the Gaza Genocide. The council opted for oblivion, however, which is worse. It means that Israel has absolute impunity, and that whatever Palestinians may argue against remains trapped within a vacuum created by Europe.