Labour MEPs join call for war crimes sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers

Malta’s Labour MEPs have added their names to a group of 76 European parliamentarians requesting the European Commission to issue sanctions for war crimes against Israeli ministers, accusing them of genocidal acts in Gaza.

They have called for sanctions against far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers Bezalel Yoel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, and said the EU had yet to collectively acknowledge, denounce, and adopt appropriate measures to address Israeli war crimes and other international humanitarian law violations.

Since 7 October, over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, and Gaza largely reduced to rubble, 75% of the small enclave’s buildings destroyed, including all hospitals, which are now non-functional.

The people of Gaza have endured nine months without access to electricity, clean water and functioning sewerage systems, as well as starvation and a health crisis. The violence against Palestinian people has also spread unabated to the West Bank, condoned in some regard by extremist ministers in the Israeli cabinet.

Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba, Daniel Attard and Thomas Bajada were among the 76 signatories of the letter. No Nationalist MEP was present among the names, and only one EPP member, Irish MEP Maria Walsh, signed the letter.

In a letter to EC president Ursula von der Leyen, the MEPs called for an extension of sanctions to the current Israeli government, in particular far-right finance minister Bezalel Yoel Smotrich, who is the leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, and the far-right minister for national security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is the leader of Otzma Yehudit, a Kahanist and anti-Arab party widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

“Smotrich and Ben Gvir represent a clear and determined barrier to peace, and should be held to account for their role in inciting war crimes, genocidal acts, as well as providing material and financial support to the illegal settlements and Israel settlers,” the MEPs said.

“The European Union must act against individuals in the Israeli leadership whose actions continue to inflame hatred and violence, and undermine stability in the region, without any consequences either internally or externally.”

The MEPs welcomed the statements made by Von der Leyen condemning Smotrich’s announcement of five new illegal settlements, and Ben Gvir’s call for the mass forcible transfer of Gaza’s population.

“However, it is clear that statements alone are insufficient when compared to the gravity of the two Ministers’ actions and words. We are therefore writing to express the need for immediate restrictive measures against Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, including the freezing of assets, and a prohibition on the provision of funds or economic resources to them or their Ministries, directly or indirectly.”

The MEPs also called for travel bans across the European Union for the two ministers.

A recently adopted ICJ advisory opinion, where the Court takes the view that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPt) is unlawful, obliges the state to an end its unlawful presence in the OPt as rapidly as possible, including by ceasing immediately all new settlement activities.

The MEPs said that all States and international organisations were obliged to sanction entities, agencies or institutions responsible for the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. “It is our collective and moral duty to act and to speak out,” they said.

The letter was signed by 26 MEPs from the S&D, 24 MEPs from the Left, 18 Green MEPs, 7 Renew MEPs and 1 EPP member. The majority were Italian (19) and French (14) as well as Irish (7) and Spanish (7).