EU foreign policy chief tables sanctions on hardline Israeli ministers for hate crimes

Recent provocations from government hardliners Ben Gvir and Smotrich have sparked international outcry.

Transcript

00:00The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has proposed sanctioning Israeli ministers

00:06responsible for inciting hatred and war crimes against Palestinians.

00:12The proposed sanctions are understood to target National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir

00:18and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

00:21Both ministers belong to the far-right, ultra-nationalist wing of Netanyahu's government, and their

00:26recent inflammatory actions have sparked international outcry.

00:31I initiated the procedures in order to ask the member states if they want, if they consider

00:38appropriate, including in our list of sanctions, some Israeli ministers have been launching

00:47hatred messages, unacceptable hatred messages against the Palestinians and proposing things

00:55that goes clearly against international law and is an incitation to commit war crimes.

01:04Minister Ben-Gavir recently visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a contested holy site in Jerusalem,

01:11and has repeatedly called for prayer at the site, in violation of the decades-old status

01:16quo maintained by the Israeli authorities.

01:19Minister Smotrich was recently condemned for saying it might be moral to starve two million

01:24Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

01:27He has also been criticized for promoting illegal settlement projects in the occupied

01:31West Bank.

01:32It's unlikely Borrell's call for sanctions will receive the necessary backing from all

01:37EU capitals.

01:39We will be supporting Yossi Borrell's recommendation for sanctions in respect of settler organizations

01:49in the West Bank who are fomenting and who are facilitating expansion of settlements

01:53and also of two Israeli ministers that the High Representative has also called for sanctions

01:59against Ben-Gavir and Minister Smotrich.

02:02It is not with the recognition of the theoretical Palestine, with the sanctions against the

02:09Israeli ministers, that the problem is solved.

02:13The European Union has been grappling with deep divisions on its stance on the war in

02:17Gaza, which have often prevented it from adopting swift decisions.

02:23Yossi Borrell's proposal does signal increasing frustration in Brussels with Netanyahu's most

02:28hardline government allies.