EU sanctions four radical settlers and two Jewish supremacist groups over West Bank violence

BRUSSELS, April 19 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The European Union adopted sanctions this Friday against four radical settlers and two Jewish supremacist groups responsible for riots and attacks in the West Bank, following the agreement to respond to the crisis in the Middle East with sanctions against Hamas and against settlers for jeopardizing the solution to two states.

Specifically, the EU applies these measures when it understands that these individuals and groups are behind serious abuses against the Palestinian population, including "torture" and other "degrading and inhuman" treatment, in addition to violations of their property rights and violating their privacy. and familiar.

The two sanctioned entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the West Bank.

In addition, the people that the EU adds to its blacklist are well-known Hilltop Youth figures such as Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, whom it accuses of being involved in attacks against Palestinians that left people dead in 2015 and 2023. The other two Sanctioned, Neria Ben Pazi and Yinon Levi are accused of participating in multiple violent episodes against Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank in recent years.

In this way, the EU gives the definitive green light to sanctions against violent settlers, an issue that has been debated for months within the EU and which are approved following the choreography agreed to first sanction Hamas.

In March, the member states reached an agreement to proceed with both sanctions, unblocking the measures that had been paralyzed for weeks due to Hungary's veto and which led countries such as Belgium, France or Spain to impose their own sanctions.