EU foreign ministers have unanimously adopted sanctions against Jewish settlers, both individuals and organisations. Orbán had vetoed sanctions, but since he lost the election it was now possible to reach agreement on sanctions.
“It was high time we moved out of the deadlock and into action,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “Extremism [sic] and violence have consequences.”
“It is done. Today the EU is imposing sanctions on the principal Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as on their leaders,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X.
“These extremely serious and unacceptable acts must cease immediately,” he said. “This is the sanctioning of the principal leaders of Hamas, who are responsible for the worst antisemitic massacre in our history since the Shoah, in which 51 French citizens lost their lives, a terrorist movement which absolutely must be disarmed and excluded from any participation in the future of Palestine,” Barrot added, using the Hebrew term to describe the Holocaust.
It is questionable whether the sanctions are not arriving too late. Relations between Palestinian villages and the settlers are poor.
The EU has passed its zenith in terms of influence in Israel.
The Israeli government simply does not listen to what Brussels says.
The EU has declined in status and influence since it refused to support the United States in the war against Iran.
An EU official told The Times of Israel that a total of seven settlers and settler organisations will be blacklisted. Among other things, the individuals will have their assets frozen and be denied entry to the EU.
According to the settler-monitoring organisation Peace Now, the sanctions will target Regavim and its leader Meir Deutsch; HaShomer Yosh and its former leader Avichai Suissa; Nachala and its leader, settler leader Daniella Weiss; as well as the settler organisation Amana.
Weiss, who is often regarded as the “godmother” of the Israeli settler movement, said she had not received any formal notification of the sanctions and told the Associated Press that she did not understand the justification for them.
She described the sanctions as “ridiculous” and the situation as “banal”, and said that they would not stop the settler movement.
Regavim said that the group regards being sanctioned by the EU as “a badge of honour” and will “continue to work to restore governance and sovereignty in all parts of our homeland”.
But the decision could have enormous consequences for the work of Regavim and the other designated organisations, given that entities linked to the EU will be prevented from maintaining financial ties with or funding those sanctioned by Brussels. This includes Israeli banks as well as the Israeli government itself, which provides funding to most of the organisations that the EU is now moving to sanction.
Regavim promotes the expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank, while at the same time pointing to illegal Palestinian construction – a phenomenon critics say exists because Jerusalem does not approve building permits for Palestinians.
The Israeli government condemned the sanctions.
The sanctions decision was strongly condemned by Israeli officials and politicians.
On the office’s official X account, Netanyahu stated: “While Israel and the United States are ‘doing Europe’s dirty work’ by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the EU has revealed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false parallel between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists.”
Israel “strongly rejects” the decision, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on X, stating that the EU imposed sanctions “in an arbitrary and political manner … because of their political views and without any basis”.
“Equally outrageous is the unacceptable comparison the EU has chosen to make between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,” he continued. “This is a completely distorted moral equivalence.”
The leadership of the IDF does not approve of the attacks on Palestinians. They make the soldiers’ work more difficult.
The IDF has also been criticised for often standing by while attacks take place – sometimes with soldiers actively participating – or for failing to prosecute those responsible.
The head of the IDF Central Command, Major General Avi Bluth, recently warned against this phenomenon, which he described as “Jewish terrorism”.
Last month, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir issued a sharp condemnation of settler violence, calling attacks on Palestinian civilians and soldiers in the West Bank “morally and ethically unacceptable” and a major strategic obstacle.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-foreign-ministers-approve-sanctions-on-violent-israeli-settlers-hamas-leaders/