EU ramps up sanctions on Israeli settlers and organisations

The Council of the European Union has announced further sanctions on Israeli settlers and affiliated organisations for their actions in the occupied West Bank and for blocking aid to Gaza.

In a statement on Monday, the council said it had approved additional restrictive measures against five individuals and three entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The five people sanctioned are Moshe Sharvit, Zvi Bar Yosef, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion “Bentzi” Gopstein and Isaschar Manne.

Both Gopstein and Marzel are prominent figures in the far-right Lehava movement, notorious for protesting and attempting to disrupt Arab-Jewish weddings in Israel and leading racist marches through Jerusalem's Old City.

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