EU sanctions should prompt soul-searching among Israelis

It may well be that those within the settlers’ movement were the only ones who believed they were shielded from EU sanctions. However, following last week’s announcement by European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas that EU foreign ministers had agreed to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, it may finally dawn on them that this is no longer the case. Kallas noted: “It was high time we moved from deadlock to delivery. Extremism and violence carry consequences.” Many, however, would argue that the decision amounts to too little, too late.

Yet the timing is no coincidence. To begin with, most EU member states have grown increasingly frustrated by the rising number of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers, often with near-total impunity. Then there is the recent rise to power in Hungary of the pro-European Peter Magyar, replacing the EU-skeptic Viktor Orban, an admirer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These two developments enabled what one MEP described as a “baby step.” In the months leading up to the Israeli election, due no later than the end of October, this move alone is unlikely to make a dramatic difference. Still, it is a declaration of intent: Unless there is a fundamental change, beginning with the Israeli government taking serious action against this ugly phenomenon, it will prove to be the first step, not the last.

Reports suggest the sanctions will target the settlement organization Amana, the far-right settler group Nachala and its leader Daniella Weiss, the West Bank settler security group Hashomer Yosh and its former CEO Avichai Suissa, as well as the right-wing organization Regavim and its director Meir Deutsch. All are allegedly involved in supporting settlements, euphemistically referred by the government as “outposts,” the source of many violent incidents.

These outposts occupy a unique category within the settlement enterprise — usually a handful of makeshift structures that appear seemingly overnight somewhere in the West Bank, established without official government approval and often inhabited by youths known as the “Hilltop Youth,” among the most extreme elements within the settler movement. Officially, these outposts are illegal even under Israeli law, yet some Cabinet ministers are doing their utmost to “legalize” them. Moreover, many have for years received water, electricity, and security protection from the Israel Defense Forces. Since when does a state treat outlaws with such consideration?

Part of the answer lies in the doublespeak that has long characterized Israeli policy on settlements, and not only under right-wing governments. Even at the height of peace negotiations, settlements continued to expand and the settler population steadily grew, and under the current government, shamelessly so. Another explanation is that several senior ministers and members of the Knesset in the current coalition effectively serve as direct political representatives of the settler movement, encouraging behavior that is even more unlawful. By “more unlawful,” I mean that under international law all Israeli settlements are considered illegal, and for those who genuinely support a two-state solution, all of them represent a deliberate obstacle to achieving that goal.

According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, there are hundreds of testimonies and videos from recent years documenting violence associated with these outposts, some allegedly supported by organizations now sanctioned by the EU. There have also been incidents in which settlers wearing Hashomer Yosh shirts attacked peace activists and drove Palestinian families off their land. In recent months, reports have pointed to an intensification of settler violence, both in frequency and brutality.

Most EU member states have grown increasingly frustrated by the rising number of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers, often with near-total impunity.

Yossi Mekelberg

Last month, two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old schoolboy, were killed in the village of Al-Mughayyir, reportedly without provocation.

In another shocking incident, footage emerged showing a French nun being attacked by a religious Jewish man in East Jerusalem. He shoved her from behind, causing her to strike her head on a stone block. After initially walking away, he returned and kicked her while she lay on the ground.

This is only a small, though deeply, disturbing, sample of attacks on innocent people whose only “crime” is not being Jewish. The argument that such acts are carried out only by fringe groups representing a tiny minority of the Jewish population has long since lost moral and political credibility.

The situation has deteriorated to the point that IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, hardly an opponent of settlements, observed that “it’s quite a miracle the Palestinian public is still indifferent … but it won’t remain indifferent forever” in the face of what he explicitly called “Jewish terrorism.” It is almost unheard of for a senior Israeli official to use such terminology in reference to settler violence. By “indifferent,” he was warning of the danger of widespread militancy and potentially another intifada. The sanctions imposed by the EU are likely to be merely warning shots for what may follow — developments that could prove highly damaging for Israel.

In the distorted worldview of this segment of the settler movement — a movement that while not representing a majority of Israelis, remains extremely vocal and disproportionately influential — leaders such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will likely portray the EU’s move as further “proof” that Europe and Europeans are not merely anti-Israel but antisemitic. They may genuinely believe this, or it may simply be their standard political rhetoric. Either way, for the broader Israeli public, this should serve as a warning sign: The world is increasingly unwilling to tolerate behavior that it sees both as daily violence against innocent civilians and as a direct assault on the possibility of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a two-state solution, which is the EU’s official policy.

Netanyahu has condemned the EU, accusing it of “moral bankruptcy.” Interestingly, what appeared to trouble him most was not the reprehensible acts by settlers, or even the sanctions, but the fact that Brussels also imposed sanctions on Hamas leaders, which in his view drew a parallel between “Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists.” Yet this is not about making equivalences; it is about responding to certain behaviors in a manner consistent with European values.

Rather than condemning the EU, Netanyahu would do better to engage in some soul-searching. He should reflect on how his government’s policies are damaging Israel’s standing in the world, straining relations with its allies, and contributing to a profound moral deterioration.

• Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg