{"id":76486,"date":"2026-04-21T14:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/76486\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:35:18","slug":"italy-and-germany-defend-israel-in-eu-sanctions-talks-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/76486\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy and Germany defend Israel in EU sanctions talks \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy and Germany have defended Israel from EU trade sanctions, but momentum is building for action on West Bank settlers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe that breaking a trade agreement is a useful tool, because then the general Israeli population will be affected,\u201d said Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani in Luxembourg on Tuesday (21 April).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a similar position to that of the German Federal Republic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Italy and Germany are needed to freeze Israel\u2019s EU trade perks, worth some \u20ac1bn a year, in a qualified majority vote (QMV).<\/p>\n

But Tajani declined to move<\/a> despite appeals by Spanish foreign minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares.<\/p>\n

Israel was enacting \u201chorrible laws, like the one concerning the [Palestinian-only] death penalty\u201d and guilty of \u201cindiscriminate bombing\u201d in Lebanon, said Albares going into the EU foreign ministers\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Israeli air strikes which killed some 360 people, Belgian foreign minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot also said on Tuesday: \u201cI was personally in Beirut on 8 April the day the [Israeli] bombs fell, a few hundred metres from the Belgian embassy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s disproportionate and indiscriminate reaction is totally condemnable,\u201d Pr\u00e9vot said.<\/p>\n

Italy-Israel rift<\/p>\n

Tajani also shielded Israel despite a rift in relations between Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who became toxic to centre-right Italian voters.<\/p>\n

But the Italian minister did complain at length of Israeli soldiers\u2019 desecration of Christian artefacts and attacks on Christian villages in Lebanon, saying: \u201cThis is an offence for the entire Christian world \u2026 I hope that in the end the person responsible [for shooting a crucifix] will be punished\u201d.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said the free-trade freeze was \u201cinappropriate\u201d, but added: \u201cI expect the Israeli government as a whole to counter this settler violence more clearly, more firmly and with all means available under the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Belgium, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Slovenia have supported the Israeli free-trade freeze.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But even though Spain\u2019s push did not reach QMV proportions, Albares said: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear that there has been a shift \u2026 a very clear [EU] dissatisfaction and annoyance at the actions that Israel have taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dutch foreign minister Tom Berendsen also said: \u201cI can\u2019t say yet which countries are moving [on trade sanctions] and which are not \u2026 but the concerns are big. I notice that in all countries. The concerns are big about Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Budapest switch<\/p>\n

And in Budapest, the incoming prime minister P\u00e9ter Magyar has made clear <\/a>he would arrest Netanyahu if he came to Hungary, in line with a war-crimes warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, signalling an end to unconditional Hungarian support for the Israeli leader. <\/p>\n