Israel: no EU sanctions against Ben Gvir. Kallas: “There is no unanimity”

Brussels – Sanctions against Ben Gvir: no progress. Restrictive measures against Israel’s Minister of National Security require the consensus of EU member states, which is currently lacking. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, is keen to set the record straight immediately to avoid fuelling expectations of a response that the
Foreign Affairs Council

will not deliver. “Many Member States have proposed sanctioning Minister Ben Gvir,” she noted on her arrival to chair the meeting. “At present, based on my consultations with Member States, it appears that we do not have the necessary unanimity to take this decision.” 

The meeting on 15 June thus serves as a further illustration of the European Union’s limitations and divisions in foreign policy. At the end of May, at their informal meeting in Cyprus, foreign ministers had postponed decisions on sanctions against Israel until today’s meeting (15 June) because it is a formal occasion, and therefore the appropriate forum for official political action. But this will not be the case, given the lack of unanimity, much to Italy’s regret. “We are calling for sanctions against Minister Ben Gvir; we are the driving force behind this initiative,” reiterates the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. “We will discuss it,” he assures, but without unity among the 27, the EU will not budge an inch.

 France has already imposed national sanctions on Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, as well as on Ben Gvir, notes the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot. Now, he says on his arrival, “we hope that these sanctions can be approved at European level to send a clear message,” namely that “Europe cannot accept the outbreak of violence and the colonisation of the West Bank, which threatens peace in the Middle East.” 

However, the dynamics, positions, and statements do not appear to have changed nearly a year on. The EU is still at the same stage as in the sanctions against Gvir and Smotrich proposed in September 2025, when they were first officially put forward. Since then, no progress has been made, and unanimity has never been achieved. Not even the change of government in Hungary, with former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán staunchly supporting the Jewish state, has brought about any significant changes to the dossier. 

The anti-Netanyahu front, however, is not limited to members of the Israeli government. Also on the table is the issue of the ban on commercial products from the settlements, an initiative strongly supported by France and Sweden, and this has also met with a degree of openness from Italy, which is nevertheless careful not to damage trade relations with the Jewish state too much: there is a risk of “strengthening extremist positions,” warns Tajani. 

Once again, the EU is acting out of indecision and fear. Yet the situation is clear. “Attacks continue in Gaza. International humanitarian law is being violated every day. We are losing our humanitarian and moral compass,” says the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, on her arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, warning of the risk of epidemics due to overcrowding and the collapse of sanitation and hygiene. “Winter is far off now, but summer is approaching, and with 1.7 million people living in tent shelters, the risk of an epidemic is very real, and we must take it seriously,” she adds. “Many EU humanitarian agencies are not being allowed in; access to Gaza is being denied, even to me. We need full and unhindered access to the Strip, but also to the West Bank, where the situation is deteriorating,” he stresses. Lahbib points out that “under international law, Israel has an obligation to allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need. And this access is effectively being denied.”