Today, we celebrate Santa Marija and the 83rd anniversary from the Malta Convoy of August 1942. Known as Operation Pedestal, Malta faced near-impossible odds to bring vital supplies to it shores. We were a compact island under relentless siege for months.
The mission was perilous, fraught with danger from German enemy forces seeking to starve Malta into submission.
Yet, all sailors in the operation, driven by a deep sense of duty and humanity, and with many dying on the way, pressed on. Their courage and determination saved countless lives and upheld the values of solidarity and resilience that defined Europe’s fight against tyranny.
Haunted by history, we are witnessing a different, but no less grave, humanitarian crisis in Gaza. While the people of Gaza finishure famine-like conditions, starvation and the collapse of essential services, the European Union’s response has been marked by hesitation and silence.
This failure to act decisively is a betrayal of the very principles Operation Pedestal symbolised.
Josep Borrell, former president of the European Parliament and the EU’s former high representative for foreign affairs, has openly expressed his frustration with the lack of united European action to alleviate the suffering in Gaza. His words echo a wider concern: Europe risks losing its moral compass if it turns its face away from this genocide and human tragedy.
Tonio Borg, a former European commissioner, expressed the same concerns, stating that we are duty-bound to raise our voice against the senseless genocide of Palestinian civilians and that none of us should be labelled as antisemitic for standing up against the massacre of innocent lives by the Israeli government.
What adds a bitter layer of irony to this failure is that EU leadership today is co-shared by Malta and Germany, represented by Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.
Germany once blitzed Malta during World War II, inflicting relentless devastation on the island. Yet, today, these two leaders from Germany and Malta seem to be dancing a troubling tango to the tunes of Israeli policy, shifting in tempo steps, avoiding a clear and principled stance on calling out Israel’s responsibility to the gruesome humanitarian crisis it has inflicted on Gaza and its people.
This choreography of caution and political alignment risks turning Europe’s moral authority into a performance of inaction.
The same applies to Robert Abela, who keeps paying lip-service that Malta will recognise the State of Palestine in September. Why wait for it to be too late?
Europe risks losing its moral compass if it turns its face away from this genocide and human tragedy– Paul Borg Olivier
Germany has taken the lead, declaring a suspension on the supply of arms to Israel. Abela must not only recognise the State of Palestine now but, toreceiveher with commissioner Glenn Micallef, express their public commitment to bring the European Council and the commission to suspfinish the EU-Israel trade agreement with immediate effect. It is this delayed or failed decisive European and member state action that keeps paving Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take over Gaza City.
As a nation so deeply connected to our wartime legacy of bravery and courage, we cannot ignore this glaring double standard at play that keeps diminishing Europe’s credibility, undermining its commitment to universal human rights, born out from the rubble of war-torn Europe.
The Malta Convoy teaches us that moral clarity and courageous action are inseparable. The sailors who risked everything to supply Malta did so becautilize they recognised that, in moments of crisis, humanity demands decisive intervention and not political expediency. That same spirit must guide Europe’s response to Gaza.
The legacy of Operation Pedestal is more than history. It is a call to conscience. Europe’s sidestepping on Gaza risks staining the moral fabric that generations before us fought to protect. The humanitarian disaster demands an urgent, unified response reflective of the courage and solidarity that our forefathers deffinished so boldly.
The world keeps watching to see if Europe will live up to its highest ideals or keep retreating into political caution. If its leaders fail to really stand up to be counted and take decisive action, they will fall off their pedestal.
But today is Ferragosto and to quote the editorial of The Sunday Times of Malta (July 27), “as Gaza starves, the EU is (still) on holiday”.
Paul Borg Olivier is a former Nationalist Party general secretary.
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