Foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states approved a sanctions package Monday against residents in Judea and Samaria. The move targets seven individuals and organizations over allegations of violence against ‘Palestinians’. The sanctions include asset freezes in European banks and a blanket ban on entry to EU countries. Israel firmly rejected the decision, calling it an arbitrary political move designed to undermine the Jewish people’s historical rights in the heart of their homeland.
The agreement marks a dark day for Israel-EU relations. The move, blocked for months, went through immediately after Hungary’s change of government and the removal of Viktor Orbán’s veto. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded angrily to the decision, making clear that Israel firmly rejects the European attempt to dictate political positions through personal sanctions against Israeli citizens and organizations.
Sa’ar launched a sharp attack on the moral basis of the EU decision, emphasizing that it was an arbitrary political choice made without any factual foundation.
“Israel firmly rejects the decision to impose sanctions against Israeli citizens and organizations,” Sa’ar said. “The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions against Israeli citizens and bodies based on their political positions and without any basis. No less outrageous is the intolerable comparison the European Union has chosen to make between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists. This is a comparison that is completely morally distorted.”
The minister made clear that Israel will not be deterred by such decisions and will continue to stand on its rights in Judea and Samaria: “Israel has stood, stands, and will stand on the right of Jews to live in the heart of our homeland. There is no other people in the world that has such a documented and longstanding right to its land as the Jewish people has to the Land of Israel. This is a moral and historical right that has also been recognized in international law, and no entity can take it away from the Jewish people. The attempt to dictate political views through sanctions—is unacceptable and will not succeed.”
For months, Hungary under Viktor Orbán’s leadership managed to stop the wave of European sanctions against Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. Orbán consistently vetoed the move, preventing the other 26 countries from reaching the unanimous agreement required in the EU.
In recent months, Hungary was the only country blocking the sanctions in EU forums. Since the change of government in Budapest and Orbán’s departure, the new government removed the veto. In recent weeks, European foreign ministers took advantage of the shift in Hungarian policy and approved the sanctions package against seven Israeli targets.
The EU decision represents a new low in international diplomacy. The use of personal sanctions—originally designed for dictators and war criminals—against Israeli citizens operating in Judea and Samaria is a tool of crude political coercion.
The practical meaning is an attempt to stigmatize an entire public and make an inconceivable moral equivalence between settlement activists and Hamas terrorists. The removal of the Hungarian veto exposes Israel to a reality where Europe is trying to manage Israel’s internal policy through economic harm and restrictions on its citizens’ freedom of movement.