News from Israel and Gaza: Israeli negotiators return from Doha – no result – Politics

Josep Borrell has submitted a proposal to the governments of the 27 EU states for sanctions against Israeli government members. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir are to be punished, as several EU officials confirmed to the German Press Agency shortly before an EU foreign ministers meeting this Thursday. The British newspaper The Guardian also reports on the proposal of the EU foreign policy chief. Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have recently caused outrage with statements against Palestinians. In addition, both are advocates of the settlement policy in occupied territories in the West Bank, which the highest UN court considers illegal.

Ben-Gvir recently spoke out in favor of stopping aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip in order to force the terrorist organization Hamas, which is ruling there, to give up. Finance Minister Smotrich made similar comments. He described a possible blockade of aid supplies until all Israeli Hamas hostages were released as moral and justified, even if this meant the starvation of two million people in the Gaza Strip.

According to Borrell’s proposal, the sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir could be imposed for incitement to hatred and human rights violations. Accordingly, they would have to have their assets in the EU frozen and would no longer be allowed to enter the EU.

However, it is still unclear whether and, if so, when the proposal will be implemented. The background to this is that sanctions decisions in the European Union must be made unanimously and countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary have so far been rather critical of calls for sanctions against Israel. Diplomats in Brussels cite the ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East as an argument against sanctioning the ministers. Against this background, it could be counterproductive to endanger channels of communication with the Israeli government through sanctions, they say. So far, the EU has only imposed sanctions on some radical Israeli settlers and their structures.

Calls for the EU to change course in its dealings with Israel have recently become louder. Shortly before the EU foreign ministers’ meeting, the human rights organization Amnesty International called for tough European sanctions because of Israel’s settlement policy. In a letter to participants, Amnesty International advocated a comprehensive arms embargo and a ban on investments in certain Israeli companies and banks. The organization also recommends banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in occupied territories in the EU. East Jerusalem should also be included in this. The human rights activists cite the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories published in July as the reason for their demands. In this opinion, the highest UN court takes the view that Israel’s occupation is illegal and must be ended as soon as possible.