European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has defended the far-reaching sanctions her authority proposed on Israel this week in response to its navy operations within the Gaza Strip.
In a written interview with the Main European Newspaper Alliance, which incorporates Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper, von der Leyen stated she knew that the merciless Hamas-led assaults in October 2023 had shaken Israel to its core.
“However the newest developments are significantly worrying, with a man-made famine and the monetary drying up of the Palestinian Authority,” she stated within the feedback launched on Sunday.
Von der Leyen burdened that the two-state answer, which envisions a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully alongside Israel, is the one prospect for long-term sustainable peace within the area.
“What we’ve seen from the Israeli authorities in latest months is a transparent try to undermine the two-state answer.”
That’s the reason the fee determined to behave and proposed a bundle of “focused and proportionate measures to discover a manner ahead,” von der Leyen stated.
On Wednesday, the fee proposed a collection of punitive measures to influence Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities to vary course within the struggle.
These included the suspension of sure commerce preferences that cowl roughly a 3rd of Israeli items exported to the European Union, and measures focusing on significantly radical Israeli politicians reminiscent of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The fee can be looking for new sanctions in opposition to the Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian jihadists, in addition to violent settlers.
It’s unclear if the fee’s proposal can discover the required backing among the many EU’s 27 member states.
