France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced Sunday that additional sanctions targeting Israeli settlers may be implemented within days as a response to increased illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank and rising settler violence against Palestinians.
Late last month, the European Union already put sanctions in place against Israeli settlers and organizations that provide support to them.
During interviews with Public Senat television and RTL radio, Barrot declined to identify which European nations might implement additional measures. However, referring to the earlier EU sanctions, he stated: “We could go further, and in the coming days, further sanctions could be imposed.”
Barrot’s statements come amid rising settler violence in the occupied West Bank and reflect growing frustration among many Western nations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has increased settlement activity. According to diplomats, this expansion seeks to weaken the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.
European diplomats told Reuters on Saturday that France is collaborating with multiple countries to increase pressure on Israel through coordinated national sanctions targeting individuals connected to West Bank violence.
“I am extremely concerned about the escalation of illegal settlement activity in the West Bank and the surge in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians,” Barrot stated.
“This is why I have pushed for sanctions to be imposed not only on those responsible for this violence, but also on the entities, companies and organisations in Israel that are providing these extremist settlers with the means to drive Palestinians from their land, burn their crops and destroy their public buildings,” he explained.
The Foreign Minister described the earlier sanctions as “a way of calling on the Israeli government to face up to its responsibilities regarding this violence which, in my view, also undermines the authority of the state to some extent.”
On May 22, seven major Western nations urged Israel to stop expanding settlements in the West Bank and control increasing settler violence.
“Over the past few months, the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated significantly,” stated Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in their joint declaration.
