Brussels freezes police cooperation with Tel Aviv

An Israeli newspaper has reported that the European Union has decided to freeze its cooperation with the Israeli police due to “fear” caused by the policies of the next government.

The two sides signed a draft agreement last September aimed at improving the exchange of information and intelligence between Israel and EU countries, with the aim of “combating crime and terrorism”, but the agreement must now be ratified by the European Parliament.

On Tuesday evening, the daily Haaretz reported, without citing well-informed sources in Tel Aviv, that “the European Union announced that it will stop advancing a draft intelligence cooperation agreement between Israel Police and the European Police Agency (Europol).”

The newspaper clarified that Regev received notice of the suspension of the contract last Friday.

Israeli officials told Haaretz that it was the first European sign that a shift in Israeli policy on the West Bank could damage cooperation with the EU.

And there will be “pressure in Europe to reduce tolerance against Israel now that the government has changed.”