Key facts
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for sanctions on Israeli settlements.
- Kallas compared Israeli settlements to Russian-occupied Crimea, advocating for a ban on trade with them.
- Israel's mission to the EU and NATO criticized Kallas' remarks.
- The EU has a long-standing division on imposing bloc-wide restrictions on Israeli settlements.
- Eight EU countries, along with the UK and Canada, pledged to impose trade sanctions on Israeli settlements.
- Kallas affirmed that all EU Member States consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has called for the bloc to impose trade sanctions on Israeli settlements, drawing a parallel to the EU's stance on Russian-occupied Crimea. In an interview published Friday, Kallas stated that the EU should adopt a "principled stance" by stopping trade with territories illegally occupied by Israel, given the widespread agreement that such settlements are illegal under international law.
Israel's mission to the EU and NATO responded by calling her comments "deeply unfortunate," particularly the comparison between the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem and the situation in Crimea. The issue of trade sanctions on Israeli settlements has been a divisive one within the EU, with several member states pushing for bloc-wide measures while others, like the Czech Republic, have opposed them.
However, the debate was reignited on Tuesday when eight EU countries, including France, Spain, and Ireland, along with the UK and Canada, pledged to implement trade sanctions on Israeli settlements. Following this announcement, Kallas reiterated that all EU Member States recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law and that their expansion undermines the prospects for a two-state solution.