Kallas admits Europe is Trump's bitch
US influence constrains EU efforts to reshape Gaza dynamics: Envoy
Addressing the annual EU Institute for Security Studies conference in Brussels, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas highlighted the EU’s economic and diplomatic power but touched on areas where it cannot use its influence.
“An example where we are not using our geopolitical power, because we are not united, is Gaza,” she said.
Asked about “double-standard” accusations towards the EU’s Gaza policy, Kallas said it’s not true it’s inactive on the catastrophe in Gaza because of Israel’s war.
“We are really trying to change the situation on the ground and second is that we are the biggest supporters,” she said, referring to the EU’s humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
However, she said the US’s position limits the EU’s options to change course, although the bloc is “trying to do what we can”.
“If America is supporting everything that the Israeli government is doing, then the leverage they have is there. The leverage we have is in another place,” she noted.
Biggest supporters of what aid? Useless air drops?
Hind Rajab film gets 23-minute ovation at Venice Film Festival
The Voice of Hind Rajab, a docudrama about events from January 2024, left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it screened for the first time.
Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and her cast, all dressed in black, were also in tears as they soaked in applause, cheers and shouts of “Free Palestine!” at the 1,032-seat main festival cinema.
Her film tells the story of five-year-old Rajab who was fleeing the Israeli military in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.
The sole survivor, her desperate calls with the Red Crescent rescue service were recorded and caused international outrage.
“We see that the narrative all around world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage in the media,” Ben Hania told journalists before the premiere.
“And I think this is so dehumanising and that’s why cinema, art and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and face.”
