EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

BRUSSELS — The European Union is imposing a new package of sanctions targeting violent West Bank settlers and far-right Israeli individuals, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday.

Kallas wrote in a post on X that a Monday meeting of EU foreign ministers had greenlit the sanctions. “It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery,” she wrote.

While an official list has not been published, Haaretz, citing a senior European source, reported that the measures target four pro-settlement organizations — Nahala, Amana, Regavim and Judea and Samaria Hashomer — as well as three individuals: Hashomer head Avichai Swissa, Regavim head Meir Doitch and Amana founder Daniela Weiss.

The Israeli government reportedly sought to keep the list as short as possible.

Palestinians, rights groups and international observers have increasingly warned of a worsening climate of violence in the West Bank, including rising arson attacks, vandalism and the displacement of farming communities near settlements. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 40 Palestinians have been killed so far this year, among them a record 11 killed in settler-related incidents — more than in all of 2025 combined.

Israel protests decision

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a post on X that the bloc was imposing sanctions on Israeli citizens “in an arbitrary and political manner” based on their political views and “without any basis.” He also criticized what he called an “unacceptable comparison” between Israeli citizens and Hamas militants, describing it as “a completely distorted moral equivalence.”

Five individuals and three entities were sanctioned by the EU in July 2024 over serious alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians. Also on Monday, the EU is expected to adopt sanctions against Hamas militants in Gaza. Both measures include asset freezes and travel bans.

A second round of sanctions against Israeli settlers has been on the EU agenda since 2025 but has been repeatedly blocked due to a lack of unanimity among member states. The main opposition came from Hungary and pro-Israel Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose defeat in the April 2026 general elections appears to have opened the way for the EU to move forward.

Haaretz reported on Saturday that more than 20 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians took place across the West Bank over the weekend, including the torching of homes, hate graffiti and the destruction of olive trees. In the village of Jurish near Nablus, two women were injured after settlers threw stones at houses. In another case, Bedouin Palestinians who had fled their village of Ras Ain al-Auja after being driven out by settlers were attacked again at their new location in Suajege near Jericho.

On Friday, a video circulated on social media showing settlers digging up the grave of Palestinian Hussein Asasa, who had been buried that day, and forcing his relatives to remove his body from a cemetery in the village of Asasa, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. A family member told NPR that settlers threatened to use a bulldozer to remove the body themselves because the grave was too close to the recently reestablished Sa-Nur settlement, despite the burial having been coordinated in advance with the Israeli military.

According to UN figures from early May, there have been more than 540 settler attacks this year, resulting in casualties or property damage. The true figure may be significantly higher, as a 2024 report by the UN's Human Rights Council found that many Palestinians avoid reporting settler violence. Citing data from the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, the report noted that of 123 identified victims who chose not to file complaints after experiencing settler violence, 86 said they lacked faith that Israeli authorities would take action, while 13 cited fear of retaliation by settlers or security forces, including further violence or the loss of work permits.

Several European countries have already imposed sanctions against extremist settlers. In February 2024, France sanctioned 28 settlers, whose names were not made public. That same month, Britain imposed sanctions on four extremist settlers. In September 2025, the Netherlands and Slovenia barred hard-line Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering their territories.

EU stalls on deeper economic pressure

No agreement on broader EU economic measures against Israel emerged from Monday’s meeting. A senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor that there is currently no majority among EU member states in favor of broader sanctions against Israel beyond measures affecting specific individuals and entities. He was referring mainly to a French-Swedish proposal introduced in April to either boycott West Bank settlement products or impose special tariffs on them.

Another proposal under discussion since September last year involves suspending the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which defines the legal framework governing relations between the bloc and Israel. It would mean that Israel will no longer benefit from preferential commercial trade terms with the EU.

Spain and Ireland have spent the past two years pushing for the suspension of the entire agreement, but according to diplomatic sources, unlike the other proposals, this initiative has little chance of being adopted.

For a partial suspension, EU member states representing at least 65% of the bloc’s population must vote in favor. Germany, Italy, Hungary and several other countries have so far opposed the move.

A European diplomat told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “With a new government in Budapest, Hungary might change its position. Italy could also shift its stance, particularly given growing criticism there over the continued Israeli military presence in Lebanon and incidents perceived in Rome as targeting the Lebanese Christian population.”