European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Thursday that he asked the bloc’s member states if they would consider imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers, Reuters reported.
“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 before a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers in the de facto capital of the international organization.
Borrell did not name any of the specific ministers or messages he was referring to, according to Reuters.
However, in recent weeks he has publicly criticized Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for statements he described as “sinister” and “incitement to war crimes.”
Diplomats told Reuters that it was unlikely that all the bloc’s 27 member states would agree to levy such sanctions, as would be required.
“We will be supporting Josep Borrell’s recommendation for sanctions in respect of settler organizations in the West Bank who are facilitating (the) expansion of settlements, and also to Israeli ministers,” Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said as he arrived at the meeting.
During the meeting, Martin reportedly accused Israel of targeting not just the Hamas terror group but the Palestinian population entirely in its Gaza campaign, a charge that Jerusalem vehemently denies. He added that the European Union should review its ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“This is a war against Palestinians, not just against Hamas. The level of civilian casualties and dead is unconscionable. It’s a war on the population. No point in trying to fudge this,” Dublin’s top diplomat asserted.
Borrell has also been a harsh critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and policies toward the Palestinians in general, at times making incendiary remarks which have drawn rebukes from Israeli officials.
He tweeted on Wednesday that “the Israeli major military operation in the occupied West Bank must not constitute the premise of a war extension from Gaza, incl. full-scale destruction. The parallel drawn by [Israeli Foreign] Minister [Yisrael] Katz, especially on evacuating Palestinian residents [from Judea and Samaria], threatens to fuel further instability.”
The Israeli major military operation in the occupied West Bank must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza, incl. full-scale destruction.
The parallel drew by Minister Katz, especially on evacuating Palestinian residents, threatens to fuel further instability.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 28, 2024
Katz responded by accusing Borrell of making false claims.
“I oppose the displacement of any population from their homes,” he tweeted on Thursday.
“Outgoing EU foreign minister @JosepBorrellF claims that ‘the Israeli Foreign Minister is calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank.’ This is a blatant lie, just like his previous falsehood regarding my statements about Gaza, from which he was forced to retract. I oppose the displacement of any population from their homes. For those interested, here is the tweet I posted yesterday about Iran’s attempts to establish an eastern terror front against Jordan and Israel, along with my statements on the matter,” Katz wrote.
Outgoing EU foreign minister @JosepBorrellF claims that "the Israeli Foreign Minister is calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank." This is a blatant lie, just like his previous falsehood regarding my statements about Gaza, from which he was forced to… https://t.co/kCIlglB9I0
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 29, 2024
However, it should be noted that given the timing of Borrell’s own tweet he was responding to an earlier, Hebrew-language tweet by Katz which said only that, “We must deal with the threat [in Judea and Samaria] just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required. This is a war for everything and we must win it.”
צה"ל פועל מהלילה בעוצמה במחנות הפליטים ג'נין וטול כרם לסיכול תשתיות טרור איסלמיות-אירניות שהוקמו במקום. איראן פועלת להקים חזית טרור מזרחית נגד ישראל ביו"ש, לפי מודל עזה ולבנון, באמצעות מימון וחימוש מחבלים והברחת נשק מתקדם מירדן.
עלינו לטפל באיום בדיוק כפי שמטפלים בתשתיות הטרור…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 28, 2024
Borrell in March accused Jerusalem of “provoking famine” in the Gaza Strip, claiming that the Israel Defense Forces was using starvation as a “weapon of war.”
“Gaza was before the war the greatest open-air prison. Today, it is the greatest open-air graveyard,” Borrell claimed in separate comments. “A graveyard for tens of thousands of people, and also a graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law.”
This drew a rebuke from Katz, who called on Borrell to stop bashing the Jewish state and recognize its right to defend itself.
“Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air and sea for anyone willing to help,” tweeted Katz, noting that Israel persists in assisting the Strip’s civilian population “despite Hamas violently disrupting aid convoys and UNRWA‘s collaboration with them.”
According to Katz, “it’s time” for the E.U. diplomat to “stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas’ crimes.”
