EU Approves Sanctions Against Seven Israeli Settlers and Organisations Over West Bank Violence
The twenty-seven foreign ministers of the European Union have approved new sanctions targeting Israeli settlers, citing escalating violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. This move follows a marked increase in settler attacks, documented by the UN since the Gaza conflict began in October 2023.
Settlements, constructed on Israeli-occupied land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, are deemed illegal under international law. These areas are claimed by Palestinians for a future independent state. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated, "extremisms and violence carry consequences," emphasising the necessity of action after prolonged delays.
The sanctions' progression had been stalled for months by Hungary's former right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban, a staunch ally of Israel. A recent change in the Hungarian government allowed the measures to proceed. French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot remarked on social media that the EU was "sanctioning today the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank."
Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar dismissed the decision as "arbitrary and political," asserting Israel's continued commitment to "the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland." Successive Israeli governments have consistently supported settlement expansion, which has intensified since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's return to power in late 2022, leading a pro-settler coalition, and further accelerated with the Gaza conflict.
While the sanctions await final technical and legal implementation within the EU, Israeli media reports indicate the targeted individuals and entities include Daniella Weiss, dubbed the "godmother" of the settler movement and already under UK sanctions. Also named are the organisations Nachala and Regavim, which promote settlements, alongside HaShomer Yosh and Amana, which provide financial and logistical support to unauthorised outposts. Meir Deutsch, CEO of Regavim, and Avichai Suissa, CEO of HaShomer Yosh, are reportedly on the list; Suissa was previously sanctioned by the US in 2024 before being removed under Donald Trump.
Israel has established approximately 160 settlements, housing some 700,000 Israelis, since its 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN documented over 1,800 settler attacks in 2025 resulting in casualties or property damage across approximately 280 West Bank communities. Incidents include allegations of Israeli settlers forcing Palestinians to exhume a grave, condemned by the UN human rights office as "appalling," the fatal shooting of a Palestinian man during a settler attack in Tayasir, and multiple attacks on villages, including arsons of homes, vehicles, and agricultural land. Sa'ar reiterated Israel's "firm rejection" of the sanctions, lambasting the "unacceptable comparison" between Israeli citizens and Hamas, which he described as a "completely distorted moral equivalence."
