European Steps Against Israel May Be Hesitant and Cautious – but They Could Cause Real Pain - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Following the Netherland's declaration making cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir personae non grata, the two responded by saying that this decision was of no importance to them. "Even if I'm banned from entering all of Europe, I will continue to work for our country and demand we topple Hamas and support our fighters," Ben-Gvir wrote on his X account.
In effect, the possibility that the two cabinet ministers won't be allowed to enter most European countries is quite close to becoming real. All that's required is a decision by The Netherlands' Ministry of Justice and Security stating that the two Israeli pose a risk to public order in that country, or to the country's foreign relations.
Once such a decision is made, the two will be entered into the Schengen Information System shared by 31 European countries, and their entrance will be prohibited de facto. Any new statement by the two, such as Smotrich's recent declaration that Israel has to make sure there is "nothing [left] to recognize" to prevent a Palestinian state and that "we have to topple the Palestinian Authority," adds to the consolidation of the legal basis for such a decision. The Netherlands announced on Tuesday that it intends to proceed with implementing such a decision.
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Perhaps Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are prepared to spend the rest of their lives in the hills or sands of Gaza. But for most Israelis, certainly for the country's middle class, trips to Europe are more than a break from the Middle East heat. Such trips are a defining component of Israeli identity, a symbol of people's freedom of choice and movement. A prohibition on the entry of senior cabinet members into Europe is one more brick in the wall Israel is building between itself and the rest of the world.
The Dutch move, like most of the steps Western countries have been taking in recent weeks, marks the conjoining of two opposites: on one hand, the revulsion and disgust felt by the West over the crimes Israel is perpetrating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while, on the other hand, the kid gloves donned by European and other countries in the so-called "First World" when they confront Israel. Western impotence meets its insufficiently respected power.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right, holding a pamphlet titled 'Settling in the Gaza Strip,' at the Knesset last week.Credit: Sraya Diamant
The Netherlands made a unilateral move on a bilateral playing field following Slovenia, since it is obvious that the European Union will not agree to prohibit the entry of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich or to impose other sanctions against them. However, even small, hesitant and cautious blows have the potential to cause real pain.
A salient example of a hesitant step which threatens to deliver a painful blow to Israel's soft underbelly is the proposition to partially suspend the program of scientific and technological collaboration between the EU and Israel. The EU Commission has done a lot – to the point of avoiding the truth – to minimize the scope of the proposed step. In an announcement it published after the proposal was floated, it emphasized that it applied only to developments that could have military applications.
In effect, the commission recommended that EU members should completely avoid funding Israeli start-ups (that have not yet received EU funding). Meanwhile, due to hesitation on the part of Germany and Italy, the proposal did not receive the required majority at the EU Council. According to an EU official, many countries were caught by surprise at the commission's recommendation. International journalists who talked to EU officials about this issue were actually surprised by the proposal's limited scope.
An empty Israel table is seen during a United Nations high level conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., July 28, 2025.Credit: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
The next session on this issue is scheduled for next week. The sword is dangling overhead, but the result is unpredictable. As senior European officials often emphasize, much depends on developments on the ground, namely on the extent of starvation, death and suffering in Gaza and, obviously, on the nature of international media reports regarding these matters.
Waiting for Witkoff
The two-state conference, held this week at UN headquarters in New York, also exemplifies the strange combination of the international community's impotence and power. It followed months of lofty yet confused declarations by French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as the postponement and downgrading of the level of participants due to the war in Iran and the pressure exerted by Israel and the United States.
The conference included bells and whistles which are not in accord with its historic impact. Israel's claim whereby international pressure (as long as it's not backed by the United States) is incapable of making it embark on a diplomatic process with the Palestinians is true. All a supreme French and Middle-Eastern effort managed to squeeze out of this conference was a British threat of recognizing a Palestinian state unless Israel improves its conduct. There was also a general and amorphous declaration by several Western states, led by Canada and Australia, stating their interest in recognizing a Palestinian state. There is no indication of when this might happen. The proposal to place a "stabilizing" UN force in a future Palestinian state, which appeared in the document concluding the conference, is a nice but sad joke in the prevailing insane diplomatic reality.
Protesters hold portraits of hostages held in Gaza during a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on July 7. Netanyahu dragged Trump and Witkoff into adopting a failed policy.Credit: Menhaem Kahana / AFP
However, the conference did achieve one goal. It managed to impose an unofficial internationally-set deadline for ending the war in Gaza – September 23. That's the day world leaders convene for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
If Israel doesn't stop its attacks in Gaza by then and withdraw from the enclave, or at least significantly reduce its forces there, Netanyahu will have to appear at the UN as someone with whom most international colleagues will have a hard time shaking hands with. In such a scenario, he will be an empty shell of the person who only two years ago met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the UN forum's sidelines. Just last year, he used the UN podium to reprimand with pathos the international community for its "lies," claiming that "Israel seeks peace; Israel has made peace and will do so again."
In the tedious concluding document of the conference, which France and Saudi Arabia organized, there was a notable attempt to reconcile two positions, the Arab and the Western ones regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The result was formulations that can be interpreted as giving almost equal footing to Israel and Hamas.
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The document did include a clear condemnation of the October 7 massacre and a demand that Hamas hand over its arms to the Palestinian Authority. However, in the same breath it condemned Israel's deliberate starvation and the siege it imposed on Gaza. The condemnation of "indiscriminate attacks" in this document remained without a specific addressee, but it's clear that both sides adopt this method. The issue of incitement received the same treatment in this document.
After Israel has striven for years to convince European Union and UN institutions that the Palestinian school system teaches terror, the document welcomes the Palestinian Authority's readiness to carry out a "modernization" of its curriculum. It invites Israel to do the same. The document continues by saying that the signatory states "support the establishment of an international mechanism that will monitor the commitment of the two sides to fighting radicalization and incitement."
Demonstrators gather for an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants since the 2023 October 7 attacks, outside the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv on July 26, 2025.Credit: AFP/JACK GUEZ
The token deadline presented to Israel, as is the case for the partial increase in humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza, enables the European Union and other Western countries to pause and recess in August without abandoning the process. It's likely to assume that no new and drastic steps against Israel will crop up until leaders convene in New York. This could be an opportunity for Israel and its U.S. sponsor to find a formula that would allow Israel to climb down and abandon plans for conquering and annexing the Gaza Strip while expelling its inhabitants. This would enable Israel to find a reasonable compromise with the rehabilitation programs proposed by neighboring countries and the UN.
The visit by Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is giving some hope, not for the first time, that this is possible. Past experience shows that Witkoff has been repeatedly bewitched by real estate-evangelist angles regarding the situation in Gaza, or has at least yielded to pressure by the messianic-evangelist camp in Israel and inside the U.S. administration.