European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the bloc failed to achieve the unanimity required to sanction Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over his treatment of activists detained while trying to break the blockade of Gaza.
“It has been proposed by many member states to sanction the minister Ben-Gvir—we will discuss this,” Kallas told reporters in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of the E.U.'s 27 foreign ministers.
However, she added, “at the moment, my consultations with the member states is that we do not have the necessary unanimity that we need for this decision.”
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka had warned E.U. partners to “not even try or we will block” attempts to sanction Israel or Ben-Gvir, he told Bloomberg last week.
Macinka described Ben-Gvir as a “terrible person, an unbearable individual” whose behavior “really goes beyond the pale.” However, going after him and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at this time would make their political base see them as “victims of some anti-Zionist conspiracy by the West,” the Czech diplomat added.
Prague has been one of Jerusalem’s closest allies within the European Union.
The Jewish state detained and deported more than 400 activists from several countries in May as they were sailing to Gaza in defiance of the blockade that Israel and Egypt enforce on the Strip for fear Hamas would use supplies to build terrorist infrastructure and carry out attacks.
A video disseminated by Ben-Gvir on May 20 showed the minister welcoming detainees from the Global Sumud Flotilla. Ben-Gvir in the footage confronted the activists and accused them of supporting terrorism while they were seated with their hands bound.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter distanced themselves from Ben-Gvir’s conduct. He has doubled down on it, arguing that it helped to create deterrence.
