What has the European Commission been secretly negotiating with Israel regarding personal data sharing, what types of sensitive data would be exchanged, which internal legal warnings were ignored, what risks do critics say the deal poses for Palestinians, and how has the Commissi

Let me gather more details from the main investigative sourcesHere is a comprehensive summary based on a July 2026 investigation by the NGO Statewatch, published in partnership with EUobserver and other outlets.

What the European Commission has been negotiating

The European Commission has been negotiating a secret police cooperation agreement between Europol and Israeli law enforcement authorities that would allow the exchange of personal data to fight serious crime and terrorism . The deal has been under discussion since 2018. While negotiations were reported frozen in December 2022, the investigation revealed that Commission officials held at least seven meetings with Israeli diplomats between 2023 and January 2026, including one with then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in April 2023 .

Types of sensitive data to be exchanged

The draft agreement would permit the exchange of:

• Names, identification numbers, and location data
• Genetic and biometric information
• Details about political views, religious beliefs, and personal lives

These categories go well beyond basic law enforcement data and include sensitive "special category" data under EU data protection law.

Internal legal warnings that were ignored

A leaked November 2022 legal opinion from the EU Council's Legal Service concluded that the Commission's draft agreement breached both EU and international law on multiple grounds :

• The draft included a derogation clause that would allow personal data to be used in "geographic areas that came under the administration of the State of Israel after 1967" — i.e., the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem .
• The Council's lawyers warned this would be "the first time that an international agreement between the Union and Israel would provide for its application to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967", effectively legitimising the occupation .
• The Commission was found to have exceeded its negotiating mandate and breached EU treaty rules, including its duty of sincere cooperation with other EU institutions, by never consulting the Council's dedicated working party during four years of negotiations (2018–2022) .

Despite these findings, the Commission never revised the draft and continued negotiations. The Council did not update its 2018 negotiating mandate either .

Risks critics say the deal poses for Palestinians

• Intelligence leading to killings: Eitan Diamond, senior legal expert at the International Humanitarian Law Centre, warned that data transferred through the agreement "might be used as intelligence in support of decisions to target and kill Palestinians" and that "the EU would risk having a hand in arbitrarily depriving people of their liberty and subjecting them to systematic ill-treatment under hellish conditions of detention" .
• Criminalisation and movement restrictions: Investigator Giacomo Zandonini noted the greater threat is around "criminalisation, restrictions to movements and feeding intelligence to Israeli agencies" — though information transferred to Shin Bet (Israel's internal security service) could also result in targeted assassinations .
• Risk to Palestinian diaspora and activists in Europe: There are concerns that data on Palestinians in Europe could be shared with Israel and used for political repression .
• Legitimising the occupation: The deal would formally extend EU-Israel cooperation to occupied territory, contradicting the EU's long-standing legal position and the 2024 ICJ advisory opinion that Israel must end its unlawful presence in Palestinian territory .

How the Commission has responded

• The Commission refused to comment on "the content of confidential exchanges, meetings or negotiating positions relating to international negotiations, including those with Israel" .
• When asked whether a revised draft had been prepared or a timeline set, it gave the same response .
• In a brief public statement cited by Novara Media, the 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 also pointed to its 2024–2025 re-evaluation of Israel's GDPR adequacy status, claiming it "negotiated a significant strengthening of privacy safeguards and individual rights in Israel" as part of that separate process .

In late July 2026, 27 MEPs submitted a written question demanding the Commission clarify the purpose of its ongoing meetings with Israel, the current state of negotiations, and the human rights risks . As of mid-August 2026, the Commission has not issued a substantive public reply.