Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister claims the European Union’s recent sanctions against Israeli civil society organizations reveal a troubling trend of antisemitism disguised as anti-Zionism.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, has accused the European Union (EU) of using a “socially acceptable mask” of anti-Zionism to target the Jewish state. This accusation comes in the wake of sanctions imposed by Brussels on several Israeli civil society groups that oppose Palestinian statehood.
“We are witnessing a deeply troubling trend where traditional antisemitism has simply put on a new, socially acceptable mask: anti-Zionism,” Haskel told Fox News Digital. “Where prejudice once targeted the individual Jew, it is now directed at the collective Jewish state and our fundamental right to live in our ancestral homeland. But make no mistake, the political targeting of Israel always bleeds into an assault on Jewish life itself,” she added.
The European Union recently sanctioned four Israeli civil society organizations and three of their senior figures, alleging that they support “settler violence” and undermine the prospects for a Palestinian state. One of the targeted groups, Regavim, has described the sanctions as an infringement on Israeli sovereignty.
“Our entire activity consists of legal and parliamentary work. We collect and analyze information and policies and go to court and the legislature to highlight areas where Israel’s policy is either lacking or misguided,” said Naomi Kahn, Regavim’s Director of International Division, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Kahn criticized the EU’s actions, stating, “The European Union is trying to control the internal political system and policies of an independent state that is supposed to be an ally. When we point out the absurdity of the situation, they don’t like it.”
In its announcement, the European External Action Service (EEAS) claimed that “extremist settlers and the organizations supporting them contribute directly to violence, forced displacement, and dispossession across the West Bank.” The sanctions, according to the EEAS, “target entities and individuals that facilitate, finance or support activities contributing to settler violence and serious human rights abuses against Palestinians.”
The statement also accused Regavim of lobbying for “the demolition of Palestinian property” and referenced an EU-funded school in Jabbet al-Dhib near Bethlehem. Kahn countered that the school was constructed illegally on Israeli state land in Area C, which is under full Israeli administrative and security control. She noted that legal proceedings regarding the structure had been carried out, ultimately leading to its demolition.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three areas: Area A, under full Palestinian control; Area B, under Palestinian civil authority with Israeli security control; and Area C, under full Israeli administrative and security control. Kahn emphasized that an engineering assessment found the school unsafe for use, arguing that placing students and teachers inside it posed “downright dangerous” conditions.
“We pointed out that the E.U. and the Palestinian Authority are simply violating the law in a very purposeful, systematic way to take control of Area C using structures like schools, sometimes mosques, and homes of innocent people that they push into those areas,” she added.
Regavim has published a report claiming that there are 100 illegal schools in Area C, which it asserts are being used by the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) as part of a broader strategy of de facto annexation. Additionally, a 2023 mapping study by Regavim estimated that roughly 103,000 unauthorized Arab-built structures exist across the West Bank, alleging that the P.A.—often with external support—has facilitated extensive illegal construction activity.
In response to the EU’s actions, Israel’s cabinet approved a set of broad measures aimed at countering efforts by the P.A. to establish de facto control over disputed territories. Under the resolution, initiatives attributed to Ramallah to create a parallel land registry in Area C were declared to have no legal validity or standing.
“The real target here is not violence, but legitimate political opposition,” Haskel stated. “The sanctioned organizations do not support violent action; rather, they have consistently challenged the concept of a two-state solution and exposed how the EU actively builds illegal structures in Judea and Samaria,” she added, using the biblical names for the territories.
Haskel accused the EU of disregarding the Oslo Accords and “attempting to unilaterally alter facts on the ground to steal Israeli land.” She acknowledged that, like any society, Israel has individuals who break the law but emphasized that they represent a small minority. Haskel argued that grouping hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Israeli residents in the West Bank with Hamas—a group she described as a genocidal terror organization—distorts moral distinctions.
“This creates a false and dangerous symmetry that minimizes the exceptional threat of global terrorism while politically targeting individual Israelis,” she said. “It is an unacceptable moral equivalence that blurs the line between a sovereign democracy defending its people and the savage terror apparatus trying to destroy it.”
Fox News Digital sought comment from the European External Action Service, which referred to its original sanctions statement for further details.
According to Fox News, the ongoing tensions surrounding these sanctions reflect broader issues of political and territorial disputes in the region.