{"id":536189,"date":"2026-07-11T10:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/536189\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:35:13","slug":"germany-criticizes-israel-over-west-bank-stops-short-of-backing-tougher-eu-measures-middle-east-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/536189\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany criticizes Israel over West Bank, stops short of backing tougher EU measures \u2013 Middle East Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Germany on Friday criticized Israel\u2019s continued expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank but stopped short of backing calls from EU partners for tougher measures, including a trade ban on goods from these settlements,\u00a0Anadolu reports.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference in Berlin that Germany\u2019s long-held position on illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories remains unchanged, and that it continues to remind Israel of its obligations under international law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll German governments to date \u2014 and we ourselves \u2014 have consistently issued statements to this effect,\u201d Wadephul said, adding that he reiterated Germany\u2019s expectations during his visit to Israel on Tuesday, when he discussed the latest developments with his Israeli counterpart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInternational law is the guiding principle here, and there must be no unilateral de facto annexation,\u201d he said. \u201cIn particular, any form of settler violence is unacceptable. We expect the Israeli government to take decisive action against it.\u201d He added that he had received assurances on the matter from his Israeli counterpart.<\/p>\n<p>Wadephul stopped short of saying whether Germany would back proposals to ban or restrict imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank at Monday\u2019s meeting of EU foreign ministers. Instead, he stressed the need to keep dialogue channels open with Israel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260522-situation-worsening-in-west-bank-warn-italy-uk-france-germany\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Situation worsening in West Bank, warn Italy, UK, France, Germany<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have previously made decisions to impose sanctions on radical settler organizations prone to violence. We are ready to review the situation again at any time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Wadephul argued that the immediate priority should be fostering conditions for progress on other urgent fronts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, we must now foster a climate that guarantees, firstly, the success of the fruitful talks Israel is holding with Lebanon aimed at reaching an agreement. That is of historic importance,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd secondly, it is crucial that we finally make progress regarding the Gaza Strip. A solution there has been pending for far too long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated that Israel should not impose restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza and must allow more aid into the Palestinian territory. He also called for accelerating efforts to dismantle Hamas\u2019s power structure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must finally reach a point where responsibility for the Gaza Strip is gradually handed over to the Palestinian administration that is to be formed,\u201d Wadephul said. \u201cI believe we should focus on these questions now. And that will also be my key contribution at the EU foreign ministers\u2019 meeting on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260709-report-exposes-pro-israel-network-pushing-germany-to-defund-unrwa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Report exposes pro-Israel network pushing Germany to defund UNRWA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany on Friday criticized Israel\u2019s continued expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank but stopped short of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-536189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}