EU ramps up sanctions on Israeli settlers and organisations

The Council of the European Union has announced further sanctions on Israeli settlers and affiliated organisations for their actions in the occupied West Bank and for blocking aid to Gaza.

In a statement on Monday, the council said it had approved additional restrictive measures against five individuals and three entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The five people sanctioned are Moshe Sharvit, Zvi Bar Yosef, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion “Bentzi” Gopstein and Isaschar Manne.

Both Gopstein and Marzel are prominent figures in the far-right Lehava movement, notorious for protesting and attempting to disrupt Arab-Jewish weddings in Israel and leading racist marches through Jerusalem’s Old City.

They are also former allies and ideological partners with Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister.

Sharvit has “engaged in settler violence and threats towards Palestinian residents in shepherding communities close to his outpost in the West Bank”, according to the EU statement.

Yosef, the statement noted, had “repeatedly attacked and committed acts of violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank.

“The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including abuse of the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental integrity, the right to property, the right to private and family life, to freedom of religion or belief and the right to education,” the statement read.

The EU is also applying sanctions on Tzav 9, a group of right-wing Israelis who have been blocking aid convoys to Gaza since January. The group argues that Palestinians should not receive aid until captives taken by Hamas and other groups on 7 October 2023 are released.

Those sanctioned will face an asset freeze, and the provision of funds or economic resources “directly or indirectly, to them or for their benefit” will be prohibited.

A travel ban to the EU also applies to those listed.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the EU has been under pressure to apply sanctions on both Israeli figures and members of armed groups in Gaza.

In April, the EU announced official sanctions on the Lehava organisation and Hilltop Youth, a far-right settler group.

Last month, the EU announced sanctions on entities linked to members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), listing six individuals and three entities it said were responsible for participating in the financing of Hamas and PIJ or “enabling their violent actions”.