In the European Union, agreements were reached on new sanctions against settlers

The European Union will impose sanctions on “violent settlers” in Judea and Samaria, announced today (Monday) the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Kaya Callas. The new package of sanctions will be approved unanimously after Hungary, the only country in the Union that stopped the sanctions, removed its opposition following the change of government in the country.

The sanctions are expected to focus on settlers against whom charges have been collected who acted violently against Palestinians in the territories of Judea and Samaria, and may also apply to the organizations of those settlers. The European Union has already imposed sanctions on a number of parties in the settlements in the past. Calles announced in a tweet on Network X that in addition to the settlers, sanctions will also be imposed on “senior figures in Hamas”.

The sanctions were approved at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the European countries that took place today in Brussels. Before the meeting, Callas said she expected the sanctions against violent settlers to be approved.

Another measure discussed in the Union is a French-Swedish initiative to impose additional restrictions on imports from the settlements to the European Union. It is not yet clear if the measure has matured and if it has a majority.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar strongly condemned the Union’s decision. “Israel strongly rejects the decision to impose sanctions against Israeli citizens and organizations. The European Union chose, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions against Israeli citizens and entities due to their political positions and without any basis. The attempt to dictate political views through sanctions is unacceptable and will not succeed,” Sa’ar wrote on the X network.

Last month we reported that the new sanctions are expected to be passed, and a senior European official who spoke to N12 said that “Europe is tired of seeing what is happening in the West Bank, and it wants to send a certain message to Israel.” The same source warned of a deterioration in relations between Israel and Europe.

In Jerusalem, they succeeded in blocking harsher measures against Israel that were proposed by the Union, such as the total cancellation of the association agreement that regulates relations between Israel and Europe. In this issue, Israel still has influential allies in the Union, such as Germany and Italy.