BERLIN — A senior lawmaker from Germany’s governing conservative bloc called on the European Union on Monday to impose sanctions on extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over his remarks advocating the killing of dozens of Palestinians in Gaza every night.“Ben-Gvir’s dehumanizing statements can only be condemned by everyone,” Jurgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group, told Politico.“The EU should sanction him as a sign of the universal validity of human dignity and human rights,” Hardt said.He also argued that an Israeli government without Ben-Gvir would help bring Israel and Europe closer together.His remarks came after Ben-Gvir said in an interview that Israel should carry out “targeted eliminations” in Gaza every night and kill “30 or 40” people, rather than limiting attacks to individuals posing an immediate threat.Hardt’s demand increases pressure on the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, both members of the CDU, to take action against the Israeli minister.Several countries have previously imposed sanctions on Ben-Gvir over accusations that he incited violence against Palestinians.The EU has considered similar measures but has struggled to reach the unanimity required to sanction the Israeli minister.In the past, similar statements by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials were widely condemned. Many have been presented to the UN’s world court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel’s domestic media has made scarce mention of the statement, highlighting how once-fringe ideologies like Ben-Gvir’s are surging in the leadup to Israeli elections Oct. 27.Meanwhile, a prominent Emirati businessman who championed normalization with Israel has questioned whether regional peace can be achieved while Israeli ministers openly demand the mass killing of Palestinians.Khalaf Ahmad al-Habtoor, a former member of UAE’s Federal National Council, accused Ben-Gvir of a “dangerous moral decline”.In a post on X on Monday, Al Habtoor said “an Israeli government minister steps out before the world, openly and without shame, calling for the killing of 30 or 40 people in Gaza every night, and speaking of people as if they are ‘not deserving of life’!”“What mind can accept this rhetoric?” he asked.Habtoor is not a government official, but the Dubai-based billionaire is close to the UAE’s ruling circles. “If an official in the Israeli government can speak this way openly, without shame or fear of accountability, how can we, at the same time, be asked to speak of peace, negotiations, and coexistence?” Al Habtoor wrote.Habtoor did not call on the UAE to suspend relations, impose sanctions or use its considerable economic leverage against Israel. Nor did he say how Arab and Muslim countries should respond to Ben-Gvir’s call for nightly killings of Palestinians.The UAE remains Israel’s largest Arab trading partner. Bilateral trade reached $3.2bn in 2025, even as Israel continued killing Palestinians in Gaza after signing a ceasefire with Hamas last October.Habtoor’s intervention carries particular weight because he strongly defended the Abraham Accords in 2020. He argued that Arab recognition would moderate Israel and encourage concessions to the Palestinians.Since then Israel committed genocide in Gaza, deepened its apartheid system in the occupied West Bank and expanded illegal settlements at record speed.It attacked and occupied parts of Lebanon and Syria, bombed Qatar, Yemen and Iraq, and pushed the US into a war with Iran that plunged the region into chaos and inflicted global economic damage.“The people of Gaza are human beings. Their children are human beings. Their women and men are human beings. And they have the same right to life and dignity as we all do,”Habtoor added in his post.
Keep Up to Date with our Weekly Newsletter
