The European Union announced on Friday it has adopted further sanctions against the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations.
The sanctions now also target members of the Political Bureau (Politburo) of Hamas who the EU said “promote, defend and justify violent actions."
“The members of the Politburo play a significant role in the decision-making process and exert considerable influence over the actions of the military wing of Hamas, including its violent actions. Therefore, they bear overall responsibility for those actions," said the EU in a statement.
“With this decision, the Council lists ten individuals, members of the Politburo of Hamas. In their capacity as decision-makers of the organization, the members of the Politburo have knowledge of the planning, preparation and execution of violent actions by Hamas. Furthermore, they actively defend and justify such violent actions, often publicly warning and threatening future attacks."
According to the EU statement, the restrictive measures under this framework now apply to 21 natural persons and three entities. It further noted that the applicable restrictions to those listed are the travel ban and the asset freeze, which includes the prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to those listed, either directly or indirectly.
Friday’s announcement follows a political agreement reached among EU foreign ministers earlier this month, as part of which the EU also approved sanctions on Israeli citizens and organizations, which it described as being behind violence against Palestinian Arabs.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later blasted the EU decision for conflating Israeli citizens with Hamas.
“As Israel and the US are ‘doing Europe’s dirty work’ by fighting for civilization against Jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists," said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.
“European politicians are coerced by their radical constituencies but sanctioning Jews for living in Judea and Samaria is unacceptable. Judea is where Jews come from and Israel will always protect the rights of Jews to live in the heart of our ancestral homeland," the statement added.
“The European Union's attempts to sanction Israeli civilians is a further sign of weakness and will not succeed," it concluded.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)