EU splits over pressure on Israel despite frustration with occupation

ICJ advisory opinion on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories has put moral pressure on the EU to review its relations with Israel, Ireland says

European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, has called for two far-right Israeli ministers to be sanctioned. EPA

The EU is struggling to find ways to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel despite increasing frustration with the violence of the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the conduct of the war in Gaza.

Only a minority of the bloc's foreign affairs ministers at a meeting on Thursday appeared to show interest in backing EU top diplomat Josep Borrell's calls to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Mr Borrell did not name the ministers but has previously been sharply critical of their actions.

He said he would ask foreign ministers whether they consider it appropriate to sanction "some Israeli ministers [who have] been launching hate messages, unacceptable hate message against Palestinians and proposing things that go clearly against international law and an incitation to commit war crimes."

There should be no "taboos" for the EU to use its "toolbox to make humanitarian law respected," added the Spanish diplomat.

Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib said Belgium supported more sanctions against "leaders of terrorist organisations, including Hamas, and violent settlers".

Some countries, including Hungary which has routinely blocked tough measures against Israel, rejected Mr Borrell's suggestions.

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest considered Borrell's proposal "dangerous". His Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, said sanctions would not be "the right path" to keep Israel at the negotiating table.

Germany's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, meanwhile, voiced reluctance on the proposal and recalled that EU sanctions were already in place against violent Jewish settlers.

Mr Smotrich and Mr Ben-Gvir's behaviour have triggered criticism from the Israeli defence and security apparatus.

Mr Smotrich recently appeared to suggest starving the entire Gaza Strip's population of two million people. Mr Ben-Gvir led a crowd of thousands in storming al Aqsa mosque in violation of a ban on Jewish prayer. On Tuesday, he said he would support building a synagogue at the compound, Islam's third holiest site.

Those comments earned Mr Ben-Gvir a rebuke from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who said on X that "challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible act." Access to the site is controlled by Israel.

A third round of sanctions?

There was, however, interest in Brussels in issuing a third round of sanctions against extremist settlers who attack or harass Palestinian civilians in an effort to drive them out of territory that is meant to constitute their future state.

No announcement is expected because executive decisions cannot be taken at informal meetings of EU ministers.

Between October 2023 and August 2024, 622 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. The Israeli army has also stepped up its raids in the area, with at least 17 dead in the past two days. In 2024, Israeli air strikes killed 136 Palestinians, compared to six between 2020 and 2023.

Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters that he wanted "to highlight the growing problem of extremist settler violence in the West Bank."

"We’d also like to talk about listing more extremist settlers of course which we are already in favour of," added Mr Billstrom.

The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, was invited to brief ministers on the situation in the embattled enclave.

In Gaza, a "humanitarian tragedy has been unfolding of unprecedented proportions, with a toll of destruction and human suffering that we have not seen in the 21st century," Ms Kaag said.

Polio has recently returned to Gaza after 11 months of a retaliatory Israeli military war that has killed more than 40,500 people. The war was launched after Hamas-led attacks against Israel killed around 1,200 people.

The first case of polio in 25 years was last week, detected in a baby, leading the UN to call for a pause in the fighting to vaccinate Gaza's 640,000 children under ten years old. In a statement, Mr Borrell requested "humanitarian pauses" for the vaccination campaigns to be successful.

"An epidemic among a population already weakened by over 10 months of fighting and displacement, malnourishment, lack of basic health services, and deplorable sanitary conditions, as well as further spread internationally, must be avoided,” said Mr Borrell.

The conflict had Israel's "war against Hamas" had become a "war against Palestinians," said Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin. Ireland is one of two EU countries that recently recognised Palestinian statehood to further increase pressure on Israel.

Mr Martin said that he would reiterate Ireland's request, initially filed in February with Spain, that the EU review its trade association agreement with Israel.

The advisory opinion issued last month by the International Court of Justice deeming the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful had "shed the light on human rights clauses of that agreement," said Mr Martin.

"It cannot be business as usual," he said. "We have within our remit a moral obligation to raise these issues and do everything we possibly can to end this war because the level of death and destruction is quite shocking."

In its opinion rendered on July 19, the court said that it was up to the UN General Assembly and Security Council to decide on how to end Israel's illegal occupation of territories annexed in the 1967 war.