More than a million EU citizens have signed a petition calling on the bloc to suspend a trade agreement with Israel in response to its genocide in Gaza and other human rights violations.

The European Commission is now obliged to consider the demand – which comes amid increasing opposition to Israel’s policies by some member states – and decide whether to take action.

​Launched in January, the Justice for Palestine petition reached the one million-signature threshold in just three months, making it the fastest initiative to do so since the direct democracy mechanism was introduced in 2007.

​The campaign also gathered enough signatures to meet the threshold in ten member states, three more than the seven required.

“One million people have spoken: the EU must fully suspend its Association Agreement with Israel,” the organisers said, “the EU must stand for international law and stop its complicity with Israel’s genocide.”

​The agreement, signed in 2000, gives Israel preferential trade treatment, including significantly lower tariffs. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, with the total trade in goods worth roughly €42.6bn (£37bn) in 2024. Around 28% of Israel’s exports go to the bloc.

​The illegal US-Israeli war on Iran has sparked rising discontent with both states across Europe. Last week, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez joined calls for the suspension of the EU trade agreement.

In the UK, Green party leader Zack Polanski has called on the Labour government to suspend the UK-Israel trade deal in response to its recent attacks against civilians in Lebanon.

Joshua Carroll is a writer and journalist.

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