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2025-07-16 Europe
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EU holds off on sanctioning Israel over Gaza war
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[IsraelTimes] But EU officials say they’ll reconsider sanctions at next meeting in two weeks if Israel doesn’t implement pledged steps on Gaza aid, release of withheld tax funds from the PA
European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Tuesday that the EU decided against adopting punitive measures against Israel over its military conduct in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
, following a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the matter.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hailed the news as "an important diplomatic victory," saying his office had been working aggressively to convince countries in the bloc not to join an effort pushed by Ireland, Spain and other countries for sanctions against Israel over its conduct in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Speaking to news hounds after the Brussels meeting, Kallas reiterated that there were"positive signs" regarding Israel’s implementation of its agreement with the EU last week to increase aid to Gaza, but said "more concrete steps" were needed.
Taking the sanction threat seriously, Israel reached an agreement with the EU on a series of steps to boost aid on July 10. They included the reopening of several aid corridors, including routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza. The deal will provide for at least 150 trucks to enter Gaza daily — far less than the 500 that were entering the Strip before the war but more than double the daily average over the past two months, during which the humanitarian crisis has continued to deteriorate.
Kallas said the EU will closely monitor Israel’s implementation of the agreement and will update member states on Jerusalem’s compliance when foreign ministers meet again in two weeks. If Israel fails to implement the promised steps, the bloc will reconsider punitive measures against Jerusalem.
Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after an EU review determined that Israel is in breach of a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
grounds over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel faces numerous war crimes allegations in Gaza amid the fighting against Hamas
 ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, where it has denied claims of intentionally targeting civilians, and has been hit with mounting Western sanctions over its failure to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank.
The measures proposed by Kallas range from suspending the entire accord to curbing trade ties, sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.
Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over Israel, and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves against it at this week’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act," Kallas insisted.
The more far-reaching steps are unlikely to secure the necessary votes, but the fact that the steps are even being seriously considered has been unprecedented.
The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.
The EU will also tie its decision on sanctions to the situation in the West Bank, and Brussels raised with Israeli officials a demand for Jerusalem to release tax revenues that are being withheld from the Paleostinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords, two EU officials told The Times of Israel
The PA says that Israel is withholding roughly NIS 2.5 billion shekels ($742 million) in funds that belong to Ramallah. Israel collects customs revenues on the PA’s behalf and is supposed to transfer them to Ramallah on a monthly basis.
Israel has been withholding a portion of those funds, which it says amounts to the sum of the stipends that the PA pays to the families of security prisoners and slain terrorists. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
signed a decree in February ending the policy, though Israel has been dismissive of the move.
Israel has also been withholding a portion of the tax revenues that it says amount to the sum of the funds that the PA uses to pay civil servants in Gaza, which Jerusalem claims are at risk of reaching Hamas.
Moreover, since May, when the UK issued sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, Jerusalem stopped transferring the monthly customs revenues entirely, robbing the PA of roughly NIS 900 million ($267 million) in funds.
The move by Smotrich once again has the PA at risk of financial collapse, with Ramallah unable to pay its employees for June. Previous months saw PA employees only receiving a portion of their salaries due to Ramallah’s dire financial situation.
A spokesperson for one of the PA’s ministries told The Times of Israel that many workers are not showing up to the office, as they cannot afford the cost of travel or don’t have time to wait hours at Israeli checkpoints, which have significantly hampered Paleostinian transit throughout the West Bank.
An EU diplomat said Israel’s delegation indicated during this week’s high-level meeting of EU foreign ministers that Jerusalem would release some of the PA’s funds — likely the tax revenues that have been withheld since May.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
a Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied that any commitment was made on the matter.
A spokesperson for Smotrich — whose approval is needed to release the PA funds — did not respond to queries on the matter.
Sa’ar still celebrated Kallas’s decision, writing in a post on X that it was the result of a "complex, grueling, and multi-front diplomatic battle."
"The attempt to impose sanctions on a democratic country defending itself against efforts to destroy it is outrageous," Sa’ar said, thanking Israel’s allies in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
who helped thwart the punitive measures.
Throughout the Brussels summit, some Israel-friendly EU allies, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, voiced support for Israel and pushed back against proposed sanctions. In messages reposted by Sa’ar on X, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský reaffirmed their backing.
Lipavský said in a phone call with Sa’ar, "It is in the EU’s interest to maintain influence in a turbulent region, not withdraw from it," and expressed hope for a ceasefire and the full resumption of aid to Gaza.
Szijjártó, who met with Sa’ar in Brussels, said, "There will be strong pressure on us in Brussels to sanction Israeli settlers. That would be the wrong move. This is the time for diplomacy, not sanctions."
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-07-16 2025-07-16 01:14||
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