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EU agrees long-stalled sanctions on Israeli settlers
"It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said in announcing the green light. "Extremisms and violence carry consequences."French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU was "sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders". "These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay," he wrote on social media.The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by Hungary's former prime minister Viktor Orban.But the ouster of the nationalist leader and Israel ally by Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted.EU officials said seven settlers or settler organisations would be blacklisted. The bloc also agreed to sanction representatives from the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Israel condemned the new sanctions, asserting that Jews have the right to settle in the occupied West Bank."The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X.ProposalsThe occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence involving Israeli troops and settlers since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.There has been a surge in deadly West Bank attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said.While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus yet among member states to take further steps against Israel such as curbing trade ties.Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels discussed calls to ban products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Italy's Antonio Tajani said that the EU's executive would now make a proposal on the move and then the bloc would see if it had enough backing from member states. "This is an issue that has been discussed, but no decision has been taken, pending the proposals that will come," he said. Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.In 2025, the expansion of Israeli settlements reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data, accordin...
EU announces sanctions against violent Israel settlers
The EU has agreed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, ending a years-long deadlock over the issue but still taking only a “baby step” according to one MEP.Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Monday: “Violence and extremism carry consequences.”But there was still no consensus among the 27 member states on more hard-hitting trade sanctions.France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the EU was “sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders”.“These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,” he wrote on social media.The full list of names has not been published following Monday’s agreement in principle but is understood not to include two extremist Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. The pair were put under UK sanctions last June for their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”.The deadlock was broken after Hungary’s new pro-EU government lifted its veto on the sanctions, which had been blocked by the previous prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The EU would also sanction leading Hamas figures, Kallas said.Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said there was no basis for the EU sanctions. Photograph: Ralf Hirschberger/AFP/Getty ImagesIsrael’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said the EU had chosen in “an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis”.The measures against a small number of settlers fall short of what some member states wanted. France and Sweden have called for tariffs on imported products from illegal settlements. “We believe that the EU urgently needs to increase the pressure on Israel to halt its settlement policy and practices,” the two countries wrote in a joint paper.Sweden’s foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said putting tariffs on products from illegal settlements was “the most realistic proposal”.Banning products requires unanimity among the 27 member states, whereas tariffs can be imposed by a majority vote.Under the EU-Israel association agreement, goods from the occupied territories miss out on preferential terms but trade is not prohibited.Kallas, who is also a vice-president of the European Commission, said she could not issue a draft law to impose tariffs on goods from illegal settlements: “I raised this issue that member states wanted this prop...
EU ministers agree on sanctions targeting violent West Bank settlers
BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers reached an agreement on May 11 on new sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as well as leading Hamas figures, EU ...
European Union Hits Israeli Settlers With Sanctions
European Union foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians on Monday, breaking months of political deadlock over such a move.
