As a change of administration in Hungary broke months of delay, foreign ministers of the European Union agreed on Monday to impose further sanctions on Israeli settlements for their aggression against Palestinians.
“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.
Viktor Orban, the former prime minister of Hungary, had halted the action in response to growing violence and settlement growth in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
However, it now seems that Peter Magyar’s removal of the nationalist leader and Israel ally cleared the path for the veto to be lifted.
Seven settlers or settler organizations will be placed on a blacklist, according to EU officials. Additionally, the bloc decided to impose sanctions on members of Hamas, a terrorist Palestinian organization.
The latest sanctions were denounced by Israel.
“As Israel and the US are ‘doing Europe’s dirty work’ by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on its official X account.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the European Union as “antisemitic”, saying the EU was “trying to tie the hands of those who defend themselves”.
“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.
