After months of diplomatic deadlock, the European Union has finally moved forward with targeted sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, a breakthrough made possible when Hungary’s new government reversed a veto held by the country’s former pro-Israel right-wing administration.
For months, the EU’s plan to penalize settlers amid a sharp spike in anti-Palestinian attacks had been held up by Viktor Orban, the former Hungarian prime minister and a longstanding close ally of Israel, who blocked the proposal after settler violence surged across the occupied territory starting in October 2023. Orban’s tenure ended when he lost re-election in April, and his successor Peter Magyar moved quickly to end the stalemate, clearing the path for a formal vote.
The sanctions package received final approval during a meeting of EU foreign ministers from all 27 member states on Monday. Under the terms of the new measures, three individual Israeli settlers and four settler organizations will be targeted, though the identities of those affected have not yet been released to the public. The sanctions also extend to leading figures from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas emphasized that the long-delayed action marked a shift from stalled negotiations to tangible policy. “It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery… extremisms and violence carry consequences,” Kallas stated. She also acknowledged that broader, more sweeping measures — including a French-Swedish proposal for a full trade embargo on goods from illegal Israeli settlements — failed to gather enough backing from EU member states to move forward.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot welcomed the decision, praising the bloc’s action in a social media statement. “The EU is sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank,” Barrot wrote, adding, “These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay.”
Israeli officials were swift to condemn the sanctions, issuing harsh pushback within hours of the announcement. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the measures “unacceptable” and “without any legal or factual basis.” Far-right Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went further, labeling the EU’s decision antisemitic.
“To expect the antisemitic union to make a moral decision is like expecting the sun to rise in the west. While our enemies perpetrate attacks and murder Jews, the European Union is trying to tie the hands of those who defend themselves,” Ben Gvir wrote in a social media post. He added that “the settlement enterprise will not be deterred. We will continue to build, to plant, to defend, and to settle throughout the entire land of Israel.”
The EU’s move comes as Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank has accelerated dramatically in the months following Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The hardline government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has introduced a raft of policies to expand settlements, approving new construction at a record-breaking pace. In April, Israeli media reports revealed that the Israeli cabinet secretly authorized an unprecedented number of new settlements amid rising regional tensions with Iran, approving 34 new outposts in a single decision — that number is more than half of the total settlements approved in 2025, the previous record-setting year for expansion.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements built in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, are widely recognized as illegal. The United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and most of the global community have repeatedly reaffirmed this position, though Israel rejects the classification and has continued to expand its presence in the territory.