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‘Unacceptable’: Israeli minister slams EU for imposing sanctions on Israeli towns

‘Inappropriate between friends’ – Israeli minister slams European Union after sanctions imposed on towns in Judea and Samaria and Israeli activists.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News Staff

The European Union imposed sanctions on five Israelis, two Israeli towns, and on one Israeli activist group Monday, accusing them of being part of an ‘extremist settler’ movement responsible for “systematic abuse of Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria since the outbreak of the war with Hamas after the October 7th invasion.

On Monday, the European Council released a press release condemning “extremist Israeli settlers,” and announcing sanctions on five individuals and three entities.

The sanctions were imposed, the EU said, over “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 blacklisted entities include two fledgling Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria: Zvi’s Farm, in Samaria, and Moshe’s Farm, in the Jordan Valley.

The founders of both outpost communities – Zvi Bar Yosef and Moshe Sharvit respectively – were among the five individuals sanctioned.

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In addition, the EU blacklisted Tzav 9, an activist group responsible for protests aimed at blocking the transfer of aid to the Gaza Strip via Israel during the war with Hamas.

The three other individuals sanctioned include Baruch Marzel and Ben-Zion Gopstein, both former activists in the now defunct “Kach” party of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane – which advocated for the transfer of Israel’s Arab population – and who continue to be active on the Israeli Right.

Marzel, a resident of Hebron’s Jewish quarter, has run for Knesset on various right-wing tickets, only to be banned by the Supreme Court.

Gopstein, who lives in Kiryat Arba’s Givat Ha’Avot neighborhood adjacent to Hebron, is the founder and chairman of the Lehava movement, whose stated goal is to combat assimilation in Israel, including intermarriage between Jews and Arabs.

The fifth individual sanctioned is Isaschar Manne, founder of the Manne Farm outpost in the Hebron district.

The EU sanctions come less than a week after the U.S. imposed its own sanctions on Tzav 9 and Levaha.

Lehava condemned the move, which it described as the the act of a “senile and antisemitic president of the U.S.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) condemned the EU sanctions, saying such moves were “inappropriate and unacceptable step between friendships,” calling them an attack on Israeli democracy.

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“Imposing sanctions on Israeli citizens in settlements or among right-wing organizations is crossing a red line.”

The Regavim movement – a watchdog group founded by Smotrich which monitors illegal Arab construction and land grabs – reported Monday that they may also face EU sanctions.

“The EU has jumped on the anti-democratic freight train that pulled out the station in Washington D.C. several weeks ago with the first round of unprecedented, draconian sanctions against Israeli civil society organizations,” Regavim said.

“The use of opaque, extra-legal tools to stifle lawful and legitimate protest was soon imitated by other Western governments, with no consideration of the far-reaching consequences for democracies worldwide.”

“The subsequent waves of sanctions have moved beyond the initial pretext in which the first round of sanctions were cloaked, ‘settler violence,’ and now openly target the leadership of the settlement enterprise. If the EU sanctions Regavim, a policy and research think tank that has been at the forefront of legal and legislative activism in support of Zionist public policy, the ramifications for Israel’s democracy, judiciary, legislature and sovereignty will be profound.”