Barry Andrews

So that's out of the picture.

The second way of doing it is sanctioning individual ministers like Ben Gavir, Smotrich and so on.

That requires unanimity because it's an arm of foreign policy, which is something that member states have full competence over.

And in that case, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary under Orban, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic have all blocked that.

So they don't pass either.

So the

Well, some countries, for example, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, have said that Smotrich, Ben-Gavir and other ministers are persona non grata.

And obviously then they're obligated to arrest Netanyahu and Yoav Galant if they ever step foot into European territory or their country's territory.

But no, sanctions are an EU policy, so they have to do, they're part of foreign policy, so they have to be done unanimously.

So that's so that's out on an individual basis.

The other thing that countries can do and Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovenia have done this.

They've employed their own occupied territories bill and some of them even gone further.

For example, Belgium not only doesn't allow goods in from settlement areas, but it refuses to give consular service to Belgians who are living in occupied territories.

And they've done that within the realm of EU law.

That's what the Germans say consistently.

And I've had this conversation so many times with German diplomats that they would say, you know, the raison d'etre of Germany is to protect Israel and Jewish people.

But at the same time, you hear Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, last year, he said that he could no longer understand the justification for the IDF's policy in Gaza, because obviously, even a year ago, Gaza was completely destroyed and as was

And at that stage, the hostages were being released.

He talked about the humanitarian situation, as has Vadaful, the foreign minister.

So they recognize the situation being just catastrophic and in breach of international law.