David Cronin
The Electronic Intifada / August 19, 2026
Almost three years after the Gaza genocide began, the European Union is still being helpful to Israel and its weapons industry.
A fresh example of the help being offered involves a “security research” project scheduled to begin in September.
The Israel Innovation Authority is part of the network benefiting from that $3.5 million project, which aims to improve the quality of bids for EU “security research” grants.
That authority regularly supports firms which have supplied the weapons used to kill Palestinians and in attacking Iran and Lebanon.
Within the past few weeks, the authority has joined a partnership with the arms maker Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in an effort to market quadcopter drones as an “advanced solution” for tackling wildfires. IAI is by its own admission “thoroughly embedded” in the Israeli war against Gaza.
It is highly significant – in a malign way – that the Israel Innovation Authority should be allowed to participate in EU projects categorized as “security research.”
The term “security research” is a euphemism for activities designed to boost the weapons industry, particularly makers of surveillance technology.
Among the stated objectives of the “security research” financed by the EU are contributing to the fight against terrorism and strengthening border management.
Questions must be raised about why Israel is deemed to be an acceptable partner for such activities, given that it constantly cites “terrorism” as an excuse for the oppression of and, in recent times, genocide against Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is even wanted by the International Criminal Court for “murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.”
The Israel Innovation Authority appears to regard such crimes against humanity as business opportunities.
It describes the weapons industry as being among the “engines of growth” for Israel’s economy. That chimes with the messaging from Israel’s leading arms makers, who are exploiting the Gaza genocide and other acts of aggression to increase sales both domestically and internationally.
Deference
Border management, meanwhile, is constantly trotted out as an excuse by governments for being cruel toward people trying to escape hardship or violence.
Israel’s involvement in “security research” activities should not be viewed separately from how its weapons industry is profiting from the greater militarization of Europe’s borders.
The Israeli firm Shladot has reportedly won a new tender to provide the Greek police with armoured vehicles for border patrol purposes.
Efforts to increase the militarization of Europe’s borders are being coordinated by Frontex, an agency based in Warsaw.
When I submitted a freedom of information request concerning contacts between Israel and Frontex since January 2025, the agency stated that it identified seven relevant documents.
While Frontex confirmed that the papers in question relate to “procurement” – buying or renting equipment – it would not disclose their contents.
Releasing such details “would be detrimental to the effective cooperation” with other countries, the agency stated. Such cooperation is “crucial” for Frontex, it added, claiming that “unilateral disclosure” of the documents in question would “jeopardize the mutual trust” between the agency and Israel.
The choice of words is instructive. Frontex wants to preserve “effective cooperation” and “mutual trust” with Israel while that state carries out a genocide.
The approach taken by Frontex fits into a wider pattern of deference toward Israel.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has been declared a persona non grata by the Israeli government for allegedly comparing it to apartheid South Africa.
Despite how Israel has ostracized her, Kallas evidently wants the EU to maintain a strong relationship with it. Last week, she called Israel’s decision to “extend the [annual] mandates” for two EU operations – one in Gaza, the other in the West Bank – an “important step.”
Through one of these missions, the EU provides “border assistance” at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
As well as being headquartered in Tel Aviv, the EU’s mission is subservient to Israel’s military occupation of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority personnel staffing the border are serving as a proxy for Israel, which has remote control over the crossing.
“Assistance” is, therefore, being given by the EU in a context where an army perpetrating a genocide decides who may leave and enter Gaza. As a large proportion of the people seeking to cross Rafah require urgent medical treatment that is unavailable within Gaza, Israel is literally dictating who may live and die.
Only someone with a sadistic mindset could suggest that the system of border management in Gaza may serve as a model.
The EU team giving “assistance” in Rafah is nonetheless trying to put a positive spin on its activities. When that team visited Frontex in June, it expressed a commitment to working with the agency “in support of professional border management.”
Experience gained at Rafah was presented as potentially useful in other “border management” situations, it would appear. That is frightening.
The EU is not – as it would have us believe – making a major stride toward the free movement of Palestinians.
Some 1,858 medical patients were allowed through Rafah between early February and early August.
The EU’s “assistance mission” celebrates such data. Yet anyone with a calculator on their phone can work out that is the equivalent of around 10 patients per day.
Thousands of others await medical evacuation and they are at the total mercy of Israel.
The game which the EU is playing needs to be scrutinized.
The EU’s missions in Palestine act as the flimsiest fig leaf imaginable for an illegal occupation. The EU’s approval of Israeli involvement in “security research” amounts to support for the weapons firms profiting from that occupation.
The game being played is a dirty one. The EU’s governments and representatives will only clean up their act if they impose strong sanctions on Israel.
David Cronin is an associate editor of The Electronic Intifada; his books include Balfour’s Shadow: A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel and Europe’s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation
