Critics challenge EU-Israel data draft over risks to Palestinian rights

The European Commission is alleged to have negotiated a secret agreement with Israel’s police service covering biometric, genetic and location data. The draft, which allegedly advanced despite legal warnings issued in 2022, was criticized as posing risks to Palestinian rights.

Scraper SystemAugust 15, 2026, 01:23 PM

Critics challenge EU-Israel data draft over risks to Palestinian rights

The European Commission allegedly discussed sharing sensitive personal data with Israel’s police service under a draft that has raised concerns over Palestinian rights. The agreement would include the exchange of biometric and genetic information, as well as location data, political opinions and personal information.

The planned arrangement allegedly grew out of earlier limited cooperation with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, Europol. Unlike the 2018 agreement, the draft expands personal data sharing and reopens debate over restrictions concerning the occupied Palestinian territories.

Draft allegedly advanced despite legal assessment

The EU Council Legal Service’s 2022 assessment found the draft legally unsustainable. The assessment warned that the agreement could legitimize the occupation of Palestinian territories and weaken the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Although the draft contains provisions limiting the use of transferred data in occupied territories, it also includes broad exceptions concerning an “imminent threat to life” and the prevention or investigation of general crimes. European legal experts judged that these exceptions were so vague that they could be open to abuse.

Concerns that Palestinians could be placed under surveillance

There are concerns that information collected by European police missions operating in the West Bank and Rafah in the Gaza Strip could be transferred to Israeli authorities and used in existing military surveillance systems targeting Palestinians.

Legal expert Eitan Diamond said the information could be turned into intelligence supporting decisions to attack and kill Palestinians. Diamond said the cooperation could also create a risk that people would be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty and subjected to systematic mistreatment in harsh detention conditions.

Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani described the planned partnership as the product of a colonial and racist approach and said it would harm Palestinians. Douwe Korff, a legal scholar affiliated with Yale University, described the possibility of transferring sensitive information to a state associated with genocide and other crimes as a serious concern.

Criticism that the draft could conflict with EU diplomatic policy

Critics argued that the European Commission’s pursuit of a broader agreement could conflict with its own diplomatic policy and disregard recent decisions by international courts. The 2018 arrangement had explicitly excluded personal data sharing and the occupied territories from its scope.

According to data from Gaza’s Health Ministry, 73,389 Palestinians have been killed and 174,266 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023. Despite the ceasefire signed in October 2025, the attacks have continued, along with deaths and damage to infrastructure.

Critics challenge EU-Israel data draft over risks to Palestinian rights