Following a backdrop of ongoing attacks on Gaza and escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Katharina Dröge, parliamentary group leader for the Green Party, has called for sanctions to be imposed against Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Dröge, in statements to the German press network “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”, argued that the sanctions are necessary given what she describes as the ministers’ open calls for violence against the Palestinian civilian population and their support for the illegal settlement construction in the West Bank. She emphasized the need for a clear stance from the German government on the matter.
Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir currently hold ministerial positions and are leaders of parties classified as right-wing extremist. Slovenia recently became the first EU nation to implement entry bans against the two ministers.
Dröge’s call extends to a cessation of arms exports to Israel. “There needs to be a halt to arms exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza” she stated, urging the German government to sign a joint declaration of 28 nations. This declaration calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the facilitation of humanitarian aid to the population and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
She criticized the German government’s previous refusal to endorse the declaration, labeling it an “error that urgently needs correction”. Dröge also suggested that if the opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, intends to uphold his stated positions, Germany should join the coordinated appeal.
