David Cronin
The Electronic Intifada / May 13, 2026
Nobody danced in the street when the European Union announced this week that it would impose sanctions on what the press calls “violent Israel [Jewish] settlers.”
The most upbeat interpretation of the measures is to see them as a potential step, albeit a tiny one, towards accountability.
If the measures are followed up by meaningful action – and that is a very big “if” – then the EU will finally make Israel pay a price for eviscerating the core tenets of international law. The fury with which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition colleagues reacted to Monday’s decision no doubt reflects a wider fear among Israelis of isolation.
The framing of the EU’s sanctions is nonetheless highly problematic.
Focusing on “violent” settlers gives the false impression that most Israelis living in the occupied West Bank are peaceful and law-abiding. Focusing on just a few settler organizations and individuals – as the EU has done – overlooks how the colonization project is inherently violent.
In an attempt to appear “balanced,” the EU has flanked its sanctions on “violent” settlers with new measures targeting “leading Hamas figures.”
Reality has thereby been distorted. Attacks by Israelis on Palestinians living under occupation and armed resistance by Palestinians seeking to end the occupation are being treated as comparable.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is culpable of conflating the oppressor with the oppressed. She warned on Monday about the “consequences” of extremism – pointing to both Hamas and “violence against Palestinians” by Israeli settlers.
Through its decision, she claimed, the EU had shifted “from deadlock to delivery.”
Her comment was almost certainly directed at Hungary.
Before his recent electoral defeat, Viktor Orbán had blocked the EU from approving the sanctions eventually rubber-stamped this week. Now that Péter Magyar has replaced Orbán as prime minister, Hungary may no longer be an outlier but closer to the EU mainstream.
Time will tell if the mainstream position becomes one of opposing Israel’s state violence – not merely violence by settlers – through deeds, as well as words. Germany and Italy have so far thwarted moves by other EU governments aimed at removing trade privileges from and suspending cooperation with Israel.
Cash cow
Until such cooperation ends, the EU will continue being a cash cow for Israeli “innovators,” most, if not all, of whom have close connections to the army occupying the West Bank and Gaza.
The Tel Aviv-based firm CyberRidge has, for example, recently been awarded an EU scientific research grant worth nearly $3 million.
According to its own website, CyberRidge blends “decades of academic research with frontline intelligence experience” and protects the “world’s most sensitive data from interception, surveillance and quantum-era decryption.” And the firm enjoys backing from “a diverse coalition of investors focused on deep tech, defense and commercial impact” – “defense” being a euphemism for everything to do with weapons and war.
Further details of CyberRidge’s “intelligence experience” can be found by checking how its key players built their careers.
Shira Kaplan recently expressed her delight at joining CyberRidge as “executive adviser” so that she can promote its products in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Though now working from Zurich, Kaplan is a proud graduate of Unit 8200, a division in Israel’s military tasked with spying on Palestinians.
She is not the only CyberRidge representative to have such a background. Yaron Ben-Schlusch, the firm’s vice president for sales, is another Unit 8200 alumnus.
By awarding a grant to CyberRidge, the EU is helping a firm that hires Israel’s trained spies market itself as trustworthy in protecting the “world’s most sensitive data.”
Israel’s Technion, meanwhile, keeps on milking the EU’s research program.
Since March, the Technion has kicked off at least four EU-funded projects, worth a combined total exceeding $9 million.
Nominally a public university, the Technion demonstrated its strong bonds with the weapons industry once again this week when the firm Rafael sponsored an event on its campus. Attendees were promised an “enriching lecture” and an opportunity to “get a glimpse of our fascinating work.”
Rafael’s “fascinating work” includes being the largest contributor to the Iron Dome system.
Iron Dome should really have been called Iron Grip. The tacit purpose of the project is to maintain Israel’s hold on Gaza, while intercepting missiles fired from there.
Brussels officials ought to know very well that the Technion hosts laboratories for weapons makers who profit from massive injustice and even genocide. Their continued embrace of the Technion means that they are paving the way for future crimes against humanity.
Sanctioning a few “violent settlers” won’t offset those crimes.
David Cronin is an associate editor of The Electronic Intifada; his books include Balfour’s Shadow: A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel and Europe’s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation
