The European Union can finally close ranks and present a solid, united front on its foreign policy regarding the conflict between Israel and Gaza. The European Union's foreign ministers have agreed on sanctions against Israeli individuals and also against settler organisations currently occupying, by force, the West Bank, Lebanon and Gaza.
The sanctions package had been on the European foreign policy agenda for some time, according to Reuters, but had been blocked for months by the previous Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orbán, who lost the elections last month. With that veto removed, and in accordance with European legislation, "it is time to move from deadlock to action", in the words of the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated on the X that the EU had "arbitrarily and politically chosen to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities due to their political views and without any basis whatsoever".
"Equally outrageous is the unacceptable comparison that the European Union has decided to draw between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists. This is a completely distorted moral equivalence," he added.
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European governments have expressed concern over the increase in reports of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.