The Smotrich and Ben-Gvir Effect: How Two Ministers Galvanized an EU Response

It is impossible to understand the European Union’s drastic move towards sanctions without appreciating the “Smotrich and Ben-Gvir Effect.” The rise of these two far-right ministers to positions of immense power in the Israeli government has been a primary catalyst in galvanizing a unified and hostile European response.
For years, the EU has been critical of Israeli policies, but it has often dealt with more moderate Israeli politicians who spoke the language of diplomacy. The rhetoric and declared intentions of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir represent a radical departure that has been profoundly shocking to the European establishment.
Their unapologetic advocacy for settlement expansion, their inflammatory language towards Palestinians, and their hardline stance on the war have come to define the current Israeli government in the eyes of many Europeans. They are seen not as traditional security hawks, but as ideological extremists who are fundamentally opposed to the principles of international law and a two-state solution that form the basis of EU policy.
By targeting these two ministers personally, the EU is making an explicit statement that their brand of politics is unacceptable. It is a direct rebuke of the direction the Israeli government has taken. As one official noted, their actions gave “new momentum” to the sanctions push, effectively uniting disparate European factions against a common, tangible target.
In a sense, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have achieved something that years of Palestinian diplomacy could not: they have provoked the EU into taking its most concrete punitive action against Israel in its history.