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<\/a><\/p>\nEU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas talks to the media on September 17 in Brussels about a proposal to impose sanctions on Israel as a response to the Gaza conflict. (Thierry Monasse\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
While the measures currently do not have enough support from EU member nations to pass, including from Germany which said it wants to keep communication with Israel open, the proposed measures mark a major policy shift for the bloc.<\/p>\n
The measures were proposed by Kaja Kallas, the EU\u2019s foreign policy chief, as Israel has launched a major ground operation in Gaza City, causing many of the city\u2019s roughly 1 million Palestinian residents to flee en masse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael\u2019s ground offensive in Gaza will make an already desperate situation even worse,\u201d said Kallas in a post on X. \u201cSuspending trade concessions and imposing sanctions on extremist ministers and violent settlers would clearly signal that the EU demands an end to this war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suspension of Israel\u2019s trade agreement with the European Union would impose tariffs on about $6.87 billion of Israeli exports. Additionally, around $37.5 million in bilateral funds controlled by the European Commission would be immediately suspended as part of the plan.<\/p>\n
Kallas also urged the EU\u2019s 27 member nations to impose sanctions on 10 Hamas leaders, \u201cviolent\u201d Israeli settlers and far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n
Kallas stipulated during a news conference in Brussels that the proposed measures were intended \u201cnot to punish Israel,\u201d but rather to \u201cimprove the humanitarian situation in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has come under fire from some EU leaders and political groups for her lack of strong action against Israel over its offensive in Gaza, noted that the measures were designed not to affect \u201cIsraeli civil society or Yad Vashem,\u201d Israel\u2019s Holocaust memorial.<\/p>\n
The announcement of the proposal drew strong condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, who called them \u201cmorally and politically distorted\u201d in a post on X, adding that \u201csteps against Israel will be answered accordingly, and we hope we will not be required to take them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoves against Israel will harm Europe\u2019s own interests,\u201d Sa\u2019ar continued. \u201cIsrael will continue to struggle, with the help of its friends in Europe, against attempts to harm it while it is in the midst of an existential war.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged at a conference in Jerusalem that Israel faces a \u201csort of isolation\u201d over its prosecution of the war in Gaza, and urged greater self-reliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll need to develop our weapons industry. We\u2019re going to be Athens and super Sparta combined. We have no choice, at least for the coming years when we\u2019ll be required to deal with these isolation attempts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n