The European Union’s foreign ministers met this week to discuss Gaza and the West Bank. The outcome was predictable: no agreement on sanctions, no unified position, no action. But as Palestinian writer Tamam Abusalama argues in Al Jazeera, the lack of EU-wide consensus is no excuse for national governments to do nothing.
“National governments cannot hide behind EU paralysis,” Abusalama writes. Individual member states have the power to act on their own, imposing arms embargoes, banning trade with illegal settlements, sanctioning Israeli ministers, without waiting for all 27 capitals to agree.
The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade in goods worth 42.6 billion euros ($49.9 billion) in 2024. That gives European governments enormous leverage if they choose to use it. So far, most have not.
The pattern is familiar. Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands have pushed for suspending the EU-Israel free trade agreement. France unilaterally banned far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from French territory in May. Italy has placed him under criminal investigation. But Germany and Hungary have consistently blocked stronger collective action at the EU level.
The result is that Europe’s collective position has been reduced to statements. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged the problem herself: “If you don’t have a unified voice on this topic, we don’t have a voice on the global scene.” She has also admitted that there was no consensus even to sanction Ben-Gvir.
Abusalama’s argument is that the consensus requirement has become a shield. Countries that oppose stronger action hide behind the need for unanimity. Countries that support stronger action wait for a consensus that never comes. Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza deteriorates, Israeli settlement expansion continues in the West Bank, and European-made components continue to flow into Israeli military systems.
The legal tools exist. Individual EU states can impose national sanctions. They can halt arms export licenses. They can ban settlement goods at the national level. The EU’s own March 2026 conclusions condemned settler violence and called for “further restrictive measures”, but implementation has been left to national discretion, and most countries have not acted.
The British government, now outside the EU, provided a template this week. Likely next prime minister Andy Burnham apologized for Labour’s Gaza response and pledged to look at further sanctions, including a ban on trade with illegal settlements. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was “actively considering” a ban on settlement goods.
Inside the EU, individual states could do the same without waiting for Brussels. The question is whether they have the political will. The opinion piece’s closing argument is blunt: hiding behind the lack of consensus has become a convenient way to avoid choosing a side. But choosing not to act is itself a choice.