(Adnkronos) – The government does not oppose sanctioning goods from from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and continues to back sanctions against Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben Gvir for taunting and mistreating activists from the intercepted Global Sumud Gaza aid flotilla last month and for calling Italy “a flip-flop nation”, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday
“We’re not opposed in principle to sanctioning settler goods; we await the European Commission’s proposal, which we will examine very carefully,” he said at a centre right European People’s Party pre European Council meeting.
Italy is trying to convince European countries to sanction Ben Gvir but does not want to halt the EU’s trade accord with Israel, Tajani said.
“At this time, Rome is not in favour of terminating the trade agreement with Israel, because it would be a mistake to isolate Israel – this would be a gift to extremists, and I don’t think that’s right,” he said.
“Italy is the main supporter of sanctions against Ben Gvir because of what he did during the unlawful arrest of several Italian citizens who were part of the (Gaza aid) flotilla, and also because of the things he said about Italy,” said Tajani.
“So we are trying to convince EU countries to sanction this minister,” Tajani said.
Ben Gvir sparked widespread criticism over his treament of the captive Global Sumud activists, including from the Israel’s main ally the United States and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Gideon Saar.
