Middle East, Borrell formalises call for sanctions on Israel ministers. “States will decide, but the process is underway”

Brussels – Josep Borrell does not give up; on the contrary, he insists. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy wants to send a clear and direct message: the European Union is no longer willing to support Israel’s arguments in the face of a response to Hamas aggression that has passed the limit of the tolerable. The idea of sanctioning Israeli ministers for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, will become a formal, official proposal.

“I have decided to propose the inclusion of the two Israeli ministers in the EU sanctions list,” he announced at the end of the informal meeting of foreign ministers. “Of course, it will be up to the ministers to decide, as always, but the process will be initiated.” The states will most likely ditch the proposal. The unanimity required to approve the sanctions is not there due to Italy’s stated opposition, but not only that. Orban’s Hungary does not like the idea, nor does Germany. But Borrell still wants to send a message to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The motives of the Jewish state are not questioned. “The Hamas attack gave rise to a war, and the war gave rise to a dramatic situation from a humanitarian point of view,” he says, summarizing, in a nutshell, the events from Oct. 7, 2023, onward. But he rails against Israel’s reaction and conduct that is seen as irresponsible in Brussels. “Statements about building a synagogue inside a mosque suggest a radicalization of the situation” on the Israeli side, he adds at a press conference. A distancing from Ben-Gvir, who declared wanting to build a Jewish place of worship where the Al-Aqsa mosque stands in Jerusalem.

It is the last act of a day that began with Borrell’s frontal attack on Israel. The Twenty-Seven were asked to condemn the actions of the Netanyahu administration, branded as “unacceptable,” and not to provide taboos against a historical ally considered by the High Representative as no longer defensible. Until now, the EU had spoken out against extremist settlers, decreeing restrictive sanctions against them, but this is the first time blacklisting of Israeli government figures has taken shape. In all likelihood, the Borrell line will not pass, but now Tel Aviv is on notice: support without hesitation from Europe is called into question.

This is another rift in the relations between Europe and Israel after Belgium and Slovenia supported South Africa’s lawsuit, which dragged the Jewish state before the International Court of Justice on charges of crimes of genocide against the Palestinians.