EU's Secret Police Data Deal With Israel Draws Human Rights Fire

The European Commission has been quietly negotiating a secret agreement to share highly sensitive personal data with Israel's police and internal security services, despite internal legal warnings that the deal could violate international law and endanger Palestinians, according to a new investigation by civil rights group Statewatch published by Novara Media and reported by Anadolu Agency. The draft agreement, originally negotiated with the European police agency Europol, would allow the exchange of biometric data, genetic information, location data, political views, and personal details including names, identification numbers, and information about people's personal lives. The revelation has sparked alarm among human rights lawyers, Palestinian advocates, and European lawmakers who say the proposed deal would legitimise Israel's illegal occupation and could put Palestinian lives at risk.

The Secret Negotiations

Statewatch's investigation reveals that the European Commission held meetings with Israeli officials on the deal between 2023 and 2026, throughout Israel's war and genocide in Gaza. Earlier talks took place between 2018 and 2022 without the knowledge and oversight of a Council working party, leading Members of the European Parliament to accuse the Commission of negotiating in secrecy. The Commission kept negotiating even during the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians, according to the report.

The negotiations build on a narrower 2018 "working arrangement" — the first ever concluded by Europol with a non-EU country — which explicitly excluded personal data sharing and the occupied territories. Critics said the Commission's continued pursuit of the expanded deal breaches its own diplomatic policy and ignores recent rulings by international courts. The Israeli Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israeli National Police are party to the cooperation, and Israel's envoy to the EU, Haim Regev, hailed the September 2022 agreement as a "milestone." In 2005, the Council designated Israel as one of Europol's priority partners.

What the Deal Would Share

The draft agreement, if adopted, would permit the exchange of a broad range of personal data, including biometric information, genetic data, location data, political views, and personal details such as names and identification numbers. The scope of the data-sharing arrangement has raised concerns among legal experts who say the categories are far too broad and could be used to target individuals based on their political activities or affiliations.

While the draft text tried to exclude the use of shared data in occupied territories, it contained broad exceptions for "imminent danger to life" and the prevention or prosecution of general crimes. European legal experts called the exceptions far too vague, warning that they could be exploited to justify the transfer of data on Palestinians living under occupation or in the diaspora.

The 2022 Legal Warning

The deal has progressed despite a leaked November 2022 legal opinion by the Council of the EU's Legal Service which deemed the proposal legally untenable. The EU Restricted document states negotiations between the Commission and the Israeli government concluded in September 2022, when both sides signed off on a draft agreement. The Council then halted the process and asked its Legal Service to assess compliance with EU and international law. The lawyers concluded the Commission had included provisions breaching EU and international law and failed to keep the Council informed.

Council lawyers said the Commission should remove all text that would legitimise Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. A footnote warned that if the draft were accepted, it would be the first time an international agreement between the Union and Israel would provide for its application to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The agreement risks legitimising Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and would undermine the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, the legal opinion stated.

Fears for Palestinians and the Diaspora

Eitan Diamond, manager and senior legal expert at the International Humanitarian Law Centre, told Novara Media: "The data transferred via the agreement could be used as intelligence to support decisions to attack and kill Palestinians. The EU would run the risk of arbitrarily depriving people of their freedom and subjecting them to systematic ill-treatment under hellish conditions in detention."

Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani, founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who was detained by Israel in the 1980s and fled Gaza in 2024, told Statewatch: "The cooperation envisaged by this agreement is rooted in Europe's racist colonial mentality and goes against us, against the victims of genocide. It's like trusting Hitler with the data of Jews."

There is also concern the deal could harm members of the Palestinian diaspora, with a risk that activists in Europe could be targeted. Douwe Korff, a legal scholar affiliated with Yale University, called the Commission's position "deeply concerning," pointing to the risk of sharing sensitive information with a state "credibly accused of genocide and other crimes."

EU Police Missions and the Informant Risk

Concerns have been raised about the potential misuse of data collected by EU police missions operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Since 2005, the EU has run a mission in the West Bank to support Palestinian Authority policing. Rights activists have warned the data-sharing deal could turn members of this civilian mission into informants for Israel.

Investigator Giacomo Zandonini told Novara Media the greater threat to Palestinians was around "criminalisation, restrictions to movements and feeding intelligence to Israeli agencies, rather than for military actions. Even though information transferred to the Shin Bet could result in targeted assassinations." The warning highlights the dual-use nature of the data, which could be employed for both law enforcement and military purposes, blurring the lines between civilian policing and security operations.

The Commission's Defence

The European Commission said any agreement would "contain safeguards protecting fundamental rights, including data protection safeguards, such as restrictions on the use of data in connection with the death penalty." The Commission has not publicly commented on the Statewatch investigation, but its statement suggests it believes the draft agreement includes sufficient protections to address concerns about human rights abuses.

However, legal experts and human rights advocates argue that the safeguards are insufficient given Israel's record of human rights violations and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Since October 2023, an Israeli genocide has killed 73,389 Palestinians and injured 174,266 others according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Despite a ceasefire signed in October 2025, Israeli attacks have continued in Gaza, causing further casualties and damage to infrastructure.

What This Means for Human Rights

The proposed agreement, if adopted, would mark a significant escalation in EU-Israel security cooperation and would set a dangerous precedent for the sharing of sensitive personal data with a state accused of genocide and other international crimes. The deal would also undermine the EU's stated commitment to international law and human rights, particularly its position on the illegality of Israeli settlements and the occupation of Palestinian territory.

The Statewatch investigation has renewed calls for the European Parliament to scrutinise the negotiations and for the Commission to abandon the draft agreement. MEPs have previously accused the Commission of negotiating in secrecy, and the leaked legal opinion suggests the Commission was aware of the legal problems with the deal but continued to pursue it anyway. The outcome of this controversy could have significant implications for the EU's credibility as a human rights actor and for the safety of Palestinians both in the occupied territories and in Europe.

As the ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile and Israeli attacks continue, the stakes could not be higher. The EU must decide whether it will stand by its principles or sacrifice them for a security partnership that could cost Palestinian lives.

By Fatima Al-Rashid, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Middle East Monitor, Statewatch, Novara Media, Anadolu Agency.