Even Berlin is now reconsidering its opposition to punitive measures against Israeli officials.
A growing number of EU members are calling for Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to be sanctioned for his treatment of activists detained while attempting to break the country’s naval blockade of Gaza.
The far-right Israeli minister came under fire Wednesday after posting a video on X appearing to taunt flotilla activists while they were being forced to kneel with their hands tied behind their backs. “Welcome to Israel,” Ben-Gvir said in the footage, triggering condemnation across several European capitals. “We’re the landlords.”
In the immediate aftermath of the post’s publication, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the scenes as “unacceptable” and demanded the immediate release of the Italian citizens who were detained. On Thursday political figures across the bloc also called for sanctions against Ben-Gvir himself.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X that he had asked EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put the adoption of sanctions on the agenda of the next meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. He accused Ben-Gvir of committing “unacceptable acts” and of subjecting the activists to “harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — who had already banned Ben-Gvir from entering Spain last year — similarly announced that Madrid would “push Brussels” to extend the sanctions “on a European scale as a matter of urgency.”
In Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski asked that Ben-Gvir be banned from entering the country. Speaking to POLITICO, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the video “showed why it is important that we sanction these extremist ministers.”
Meanwhile, Germany’s Johann Wadephul condemned the footage on Wednesday as depicting “unspeakable behavior.” An EU diplomat told POLITICO Italy’s shift on the sanctions would increase pressure on Germany to similarly reconsider its position to punitive measures, given that it would remain the only major EU country opposing them.
At the same time that national capitals were calling for action against Ben-Gvir, in Strasbourg 29 MEPs on Thursday signed a letter calling for EU sanctions against the Israeli minister for flotilla detentions. The lawmakers accused the minister of “despicable behavior” and said the incident reflected “a systematic political project that has devastated the Gaza Strip” while transforming “absolute impunity into a system of governance.”
But major obstacles to taking punitive measures against the politician remain.
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka on Wednesday vowed to block sanctions on Israeli government ministers, with Prague insisting it will not support “any more trade sanctions” against Israel — even if it has to stand alone. The legal path forward also remains murky, with diplomats privately debating whether such measures would require unanimity or could pass under qualified majority voting rules.
Last year Ben-Gvir was sanctioned by the U.K., Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand over what those governments described as his repeated incitement of violence against Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday attempted to distance himself from the flotilla video, saying Ben-Gvir’s conduct was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
Gabriel Gavin, Hans von der Burchard and Nicholas Vinocur contributed reporting.