European traffic safety watchdog suspends Israel due to ‘recent government actions’ |
A major European nonprofit dedicated to reducing traffic deaths and injuries has suspended Israel from its comparative research program on road safety, saying that recent actions of the Israeli government contradict the organization’s commitment “to protect human life.”
In a letter published by Haaretz dated December 1, 2025, Antonio Avenoso, the executive director of the European Transport Safety Council, wrote that the ETSC board of directors decided to suspend Israel’s National Road Safety Authority from its Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) program.
“Recent actions by the current Israeli government are not deemed compatible with the principled commitment of ETSC and the PIN [program] to protect human life,” the letter said, adding that the suspension had taken effect at the beginning of this month and would be reviewed periodically.
It was unclear from the letter whether the decision was based solely on Israel’s failure to prevent fatal car accidents — which have been on the rise for years — or constituted a broader criticism of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which European institutions have sharply criticized for alleged human rights violations.
The most recent PIN report, published in August, showed that Israel had a 22 percent increase in traffic........