The European Union’s current proposal to sanction Israel is not a sudden development, but the culmination of a long and steady deterioration in relations, accelerated dramatically by the 23-month war in Gaza.
The roots of the friction go back years, with the EU consistently issuing statements critical of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza. These were often met with Israeli accusations of European bias. However, the deep economic ties of the Association Agreement remained largely untouched.
The turning point was the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military response. Initially, the EU showed strong solidarity with Israel, but as the scale of the counter-offensive in Gaza became clear, a deep rift emerged within the bloc.
Over the next 23 months, the relationship frayed further. The EU’s calls for humanitarian pauses and ceasefires were largely unheeded. The death toll climbed past 65,000, and reports of starvation emerged, leading to public outcry in Europe. A key legal moment came in June, when an EU diplomatic review found Israel in breach of the human rights clause of its trade agreement.
This finding provided the legal basis for action. Last week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, once a firm Israel supporter, publicly called for pressure. This week, that call was formalized into the current sanctions and tariffs proposal, marking the lowest point in EU-Israel relations in a generation.