Why EU-Israel data-sharing deal must be quashed

Why EU-Israel data-sharing deal must be quashed Submitted by Raja Natour on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 17:08 By enabling the exchange of sensitive personal information, the draft agreement would heighten the dangers facing Palestinians Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with a top EU official during a news conference in Brussels on 11 December 2017 (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP) On I recently found myself wishing that every official who pushed for a data-sharing deal between Europol and Israeli police would have to walk through the world knowing that every intelligence agency in Europe - and beyond - had access to the most intimate details of their private lives; that they, too, would live with the constant fear that this information could be used against them at any moment, anywhere. This is exactly the reality that the European Union is preparing for millions of Palestinians : to turn their lives into open books for Israeli authorities, forcing them to navigate the world under perpetual threat and surveillance. In 2022, it appeared that negotiations between the EU and Israel over an operational police cooperation agreement had reached an impasse, largely due to questions over its application to the occupied territories - namely the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip.