Borrell Asks EU Members About Possible Sanctions on Some Israeli Ministers

FILED - 22 July 2024, Belgium, Brussels: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference after the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels. Photo: Francois Lenoir/EU Council/dpa
FILED - 22 July 2024, Belgium, Brussels: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference after the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels. Photo: Francois Lenoir/EU Council/dpa
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Borrell Asks EU Members About Possible Sanctions on Some Israeli Ministers

FILED - 22 July 2024, Belgium, Brussels: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference after the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels. Photo: Francois Lenoir/EU Council/dpa
FILED - 22 July 2024, Belgium, Brussels: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference after the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels. Photo: Francois Lenoir/EU Council/dpa

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday he has started the process of asking member states if they want to impose sanctions on "some Israeli ministers.”
"I initiated the procedure to ask the member states if they consider (it) appropriate to include in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers (who) have been launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians, and proposing things that clearly go against international law," he told reporters ahead of a meeting with EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

Borrell did not name the ministers, but earlier this month he criticized Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over remarks suggesting that the starvation of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians “might be just and moral” until hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel are returned home.
Borrell said there should be “no taboos” to prevent the EU from ensuring that international humanitarian law is respected. 
But the 27 EU member countries are divided over their approach to the war in Gaza and it’s unlikely that they would all agree on such a move.



Ireland Urges EU to Rethink Ties with Israel Over Gaza

A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ireland Urges EU to Rethink Ties with Israel Over Gaza

A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)

The European Union must rethink its relations with Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza and the West Bank and impose sanctions on some Israeli government ministers accused of fomenting racial hatred, Ireland said Thursday.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Ireland’s foreign minister accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians as well as Hamas militants with the military campaign it launched almost 11 months ago.

“This is a war against Palestinians not just against Hamas. The level of civilian casualties and dead is unconscionable,” The AP quoted Micheal Martin telling reporters.

“It’s a war on the population. No point in trying to fudge this.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 people, according to local health officials, displaced 90% of the population and destroyed its main cities. Hamas has lost thousands of fighters and much of its militant infrastructure.

Violence has also surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack inside southern Israel ignited the war there. Israel launched a large-scale operation in the West Bank this week, in which Hamas said 10 of its fighters were killed in different locations.

Martin said a legal opinion issued by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is unlawful obliges the EU to take action. The Palestinians have hailed it as “a watershed moment for Palestine, for justice and for international law.”

“It cannot be business as usual,” Martin told reporters. “It is very clear to us that international humanitarian law has been broken.”

Ties between the EU and Israel – which are major trading partners – are governed by a so-called Association Agreement. Ireland and Spain have been pressing their EU partners to examine whether Israel has broken the rules.

The EU is the world’s top provider of aid to the Palestinians but holds little leverage over Israel, notably because the 27 member countries are deeply divided in their approach.

Austria, Germany and Hungary are staunch backers of Israel, while Ireland and Spain are more vocal in their support for the Palestinians. Nonetheless, the bloc does have credibility as a European project founded on peace.