The European Union has taken a significant step by agreeing to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, breaking a long-standing impasse on the issue. Despite this progress, some EU officials consider it only a minor advancement. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas emphasized that “violence and extremism carry consequences,” though a consensus among the 27 member states on more severe trade sanctions remains elusive.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that the EU would be targeting the main Israeli organizations and leaders responsible for supporting the extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank. He pressed for an immediate halt to these intolerable actions via social media. The agreement in principle, reached on Monday, has not yet disclosed the full list of sanctioned names, but it reportedly excludes the extremist Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who were already sanctioned by the UK for inciting violence against Palestinian communities.
The breakthrough in the EU’s stance came after Hungary’s new pro-EU government lifted its veto, which had been maintained by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. In addition to targeting settlers, the EU also plans to sanction leading figures within Hamas, as noted by Kallas. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar criticized the EU’s decision, alleging it was made on a political basis without substantial grounds, targeting Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views.
While the sanctions target a limited group of settlers, they fall short of the demands of some EU member states, like France and Sweden, which have been advocating for tariffs on products from illegal settlements. In a joint statement, these countries expressed the need for the EU to intensify pressure on Israel to stop its settlement activities. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard described imposing tariffs on settlement products as the most feasible approach.
Currently, banning products from the occupied territories requires unanimous agreement among the EU member states, whereas tariffs can be enacted by a majority vote. Under the existing EU-Israel association agreement, goods from these territories are already excluded from preferential trade terms, but trade is not completely prohibited.