JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to withdraw a proposal that would curb trade ties in a bid to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
“Pressure through sanctions will not work,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote in a letter to Von der Leyen.
The initiative, announced during her State of the Union speech last week, is due to be discussed Wednesday by the European Commission’s College of Commissioners, which she chairs.
If approved, it would freeze the EU’s bilateral support to Israel, halting all payments, while preserving cooperation with civil society groups and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
According to the commission, the move would block future allocations of about six million euros ($7 million) annually and suspend disbursement of roughly 14 million euros for ongoing institutional projects.
