JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday (Sep 16) urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to withdraw a proposal that would curb trade ties in a bid to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
“Pressure through sanctions will not work,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a letter to Von der Leyen.
The initiative, announced during her State of the Union speech last week, is due to be discussed on Wednesday by the European Commission’s College of Commissioners, which she chairs.
If approved, it would freeze the EU’s bilateral support to Israel, halting all payments, while preserving cooperation with civil society groups and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
According to the commission, the move would block future allocations of about €6 million (US$7 million) annually and suspend disbursement of roughly €14 million for ongoing institutional projects.
The EU executive also plans to propose sanctions against “extremist ministers” and “violent settlers”.
“This unprecedented proposal, which has never been applied to any other country, is a clear attempt to harm Israel while we are still fighting a war imposed on us by the Oct 7 terror attack,” Saar wrote, referring to the Hamas-led assault on Israel that triggered the now two-year war.
He added that Israel had not been notified or consulted and warned the measures would “empower Hamas” and “jeopardise efforts to end the war”.
