The European Union is reportedly preparing a package of sanctions against Israel that could affect trade, academic ties, security cooperation and diplomatic relations if Israel moves forward with construction in the strategic E1 corridor between Yerushalayim and Ma’ale Adumim.
According to a Channel 13 News report Thursday, two Western diplomats said European officials have already assembled a list of possible punitive measures. The diplomats also claimed that the United States is not opposed to the potential steps being considered by the EU.
Among the options reportedly being discussed are requirements to label Israeli goods, potentially including products manufactured within Israel rather than only in Judea and Samaria. Other possibilities include scaling back academic cooperation with Israel and freezing certain security and diplomatic partnerships.
The threatened European action comes after the Israeli government issued a tender Tuesday covering seven residential compounds and 1,234 housing units in E1. Those homes are part of approximately 3,400 housing units whose construction was approved in August 2025.
Britain has separately intensified its pressure on Israel over the project, with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband demanding Wednesday that the tender be withdrawn.
“This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” Miliband said in a statement condemning the move.
Miliband argued that the British government has repeatedly made its opposition to E1 construction known to Israel and remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law,” he claimed.
The British foreign secretary said he personally raised the matter with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. Britain also summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires to formally protest the construction plans.
“Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal,” said Miliband.
Miliband further warned that London intends to announce additional measures targeting Israeli government policies in the coming weeks.
“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the UK Foreign Secretary declared.
Sa’ar responded Thursday by flatly rejecting the British demands and accusing Miliband of adopting a patronizing attitude toward Israel and the Jewish people.
“I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words,” Sa’ar wrote on social media.
Sa’ar argued that Jews have a historic right to reside throughout Eretz Yisroel and invoked Britain’s own role in recognizing the Jewish people’s right to reestablish their national home more than a century ago.
“The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel – including in the area in question.”
The foreign minister also accused Britain of applying a hypocritical standard to Israel while maintaining territories far beyond the British mainland.
“Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history.”
Sa’ar additionally challenged the portrayal of the E1 tender as representing a newly adopted Israeli policy, saying the underlying government decision had already been made last year and that the tender process had been progressing for months.
“There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided.”
Later Thursday, Britain joined France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway in issuing a coordinated statement condemning the E1 tender, further increasing international pressure on the Israeli government.
The seven governments characterized the construction plans as “unacceptable” and demanded that Israel reverse course, saying they have repeatedly objected to the continued expansion of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.
“The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories,” the statement said.
The countries also reiterated their longstanding position that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria violate international law, citing a position they said has previously been reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council.
“We urge the Government of Israel to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements,” the statement said.
The seven governments concluded by warning that continued Israeli construction in the area would further undermine prospects for a negotiated peace agreement while also inflicting additional damage on Israel’s international standing.
{Matzav.com}
