EU nations are reported to be working on a political agreement to sanction several individuals involved in settler violence in the West Bank. Although the original proposal mentioned Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, their names were subsequently removed from the list, allowing the sanctions to gain the support of 26 out of 27 EU member states, the report said.
In September 2025, Western media reported that the European Commission wanted to impose sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Norway, and New Zealand imposed sanctions on the two politicians on June 10, 2025, for incitement to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that EU foreign ministers planned to make a political decision for the first time to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers at a meeting on Monday.
Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank remains a major point of contention between the country and the international community, as well as a major obstacle to making peace with the Palestinians, who view it as a policy of cementing Israel's control over Palestinian territories.