The EU has confirmed that it will impose sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
"It's done. The European Union is sanctioning today the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders,” wrote France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, on X.
"These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay.”
EU Foreign Ministers just gave the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians.
They also agreed new sanctions on leading Hamas figures.
It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery.
Extremisms and violence carry consequences.
And Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said: “EU Foreign Ministers just gave the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians.
"They also agreed new sanctions on leading Hamas figures. It was high time we moved on from deadlock to delivery. Extremism and violence carry consequences.”
It comes after reports in Israeli media suggested that settlers launched around 20 attacks on West Bank Palestinians over the weekend.
On Saturday, a Palestinian family was forced to exhume the body of a deceased relative after settlers claimed that it was buried too close to the Sa-Nur settlement in the northern part of the territory.
The IDF said it had “confiscated digging tools from the Israelis and remained at the location to prevent further friction” and that it “condemns any attempt to act in a manner that harms public order, the rule of law, and the dignity of the living and the dead.
Israel firmly rejects the decision to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and organizations.
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) May 11, 2026
The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis.…
Nonetheless, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has condemned the EU sanctions as “arbitrary and political”.
"Israel firmly rejects the decision to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and organisations.
“The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis.
"Israel has stood, stands, and will continue to stand for the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland. No other people in the world has such a documented and longstanding right to its land as the Jewish people have to the Land of Israel.
"This is a moral and historical right that has also been recognized by the law of nations, and no actor can take it away from the Jewish people. The attempt to impose political views through sanctions is unacceptable and will not succeed.”
He also accused the EU of creating a “moral equivalence” between settlers and Hamas terrorists by announcing the two sets of sanctions jointly.
The measures were passed by European foreign ministers after Hungary, under the new leadership of Péter Magyar, dropped its long-standing veto of the policy.
Magyar’s predecessor, Victor Orbán, maintained a strong relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu and repeatedly blocked attempts to impose sanctions relating to Israel.
However, Magyar achieved a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month, in the wake of which he pledged to take Hungary back into the International Criminal Court, from which Orbán had withdrawn over the issuing of an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.
And, despite saying that his country has a “special relationship” with Israel, the new prime minister also stated that his government would enforce the warrant and arrest Netanyahu if the Israeli leader follows through on previously announced plans to make another state visit to Budapest.
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