The European Union is launching a naval force to escort ships sailing the Red Sea, and Brussels’s recognition of the importance of free navigation, including to and from Israel, is being announced by the most unlikely source. 

The force is scheduled to start operating in three weeks, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told reporters Wednesday. While the force’s leadership is yet to be determined, the scope of its operations is limited to defense. No attacks are planned against the Iran-backed Yemeni force that is blocking navigation in the Red Sea. 

The purpose is “protection of the ships,” Mr. Borrell told reporters Wednesday. “Intercepting of the attacks against the ships. Not participating in any kinds of actions against the Houthis. Only blocking the attacks of the Houthis.”

In limiting itself, the EU will fail to deter the Yemeni Houthis who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, where 1 percent of world commerce travels, the policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, Jason Brodsky, tells the Sun. Further, “it will do nothing to influence the Islamic Republic’s strategy.” 

Yet, by deciding to beef up the Western presence in the Red Sea, the EU is recognizing the challenge presented by the Houthis, including to commerce involving Israel, a rising economic power and the EU’s 25th largest trading partner.

In Israel, eyebrows were raised by the pragmatic tone in which Mr. Borrell presented the new plan. The EU foreign policy tsar is seen as one of Europe’s fiercest and most ideological critics of the Jewish state, and a strong advocate of Palestinian statehood who is often praised at Ramallah. 

“Israel cannot have the veto right to the self-determination of the Palestinian people,” Mr. Borrell said last week, prompting strong reaction in Israel. Jerusalem must “never let Borrell step foot on Israeli soil,” a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, wrote on X recently. 

In contrast, the EU’s commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is seen as an Israeli ally. Visiting Israel, she recently assured Jerusalem of Brussels’s “unequivocal” support.

The decision to create a Red Sea protection force had little to do with taking sides in the geopolitical struggle between Iran and its proxies and the West, including Israel. Instead, the EU is reacting to an economic hit. 

“Many European firms asked us to do that because their business model is suffering a lot due to the high increase in cost and having to go down to South Africa,” Mr. Borrell said, referring to the circuit route to Europe from the Mideast and Asia that bypasses the Suez Canal. “It’s affecting prices, it’s affecting inflation. So, it’s a natural endeavor for us to try to avoid this risk.”