No consensus was reached at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers on restrictive measures against the import of goods from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas who, he said ‘’has chosen to continue her obsessive campaign against Israel.’’

‘’The latest attempt by Kaja Kallas to impose sanctions on Israel failed once again today at the EU Foreign Affairs Council. There was no consensus. There was no qualified majority. In fact, there was no majority at all,’’ Sa’ar wrote on X  following a meeting on Monday of the 27 EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels during which they discussed options to restrictive measures against the import of products from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (The West Bank).

One of the option, a total ban of trade with ‘’illegal settlements’’, which, according to Kallas received the most support among the 27 EU member states, didn’t get a consensus after less than half of the Foreign Ministers voted for action on the issue during a tense meeting on Monday in Brussels.

Following a request of the European Council in June, the Commission presented a paper wirth options to restrict trade with the Israeli settlements. These include a full or partial ban on imports of settlement products, stricter export licensing requirements, and the possible use of tariffs.

“All the 27 member states agree that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s existing policies have “not done much to limit trade with the settlements” because of inconsistent implementation.

The Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, has resisted efforts to impose new trade barriers on Israel  and has been accused by some member states of ”dragging it feet” by consdering trade measures as a foreign policy issue which requires unanimity and not a qualfied majority vote.

A group of EU countries, including Ireland, the country currently chairing the EU Council of Ministers, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Sweden,  and backed by Kallas, came into Monday’s meeting looking to force the EU Commission to bring specific measures for them to vote on. But only 11 actually called for concrete measures from the European Commission at the meeting, according to an EU diplomat quoted by Politico, short of the simple majority needed to force the EU executive to propose such measures. While countries like Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, opposed such a step.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the EU foreign affairs chief said the options ‘’are not against Israel. These are options against the illegal settlements that undermined the two-state solution.’’

She said ministers tasked the EU ambassadors ‘’to take this work forward’’ with the probability of an extraordinary meeting on this issue.

In his post, Sa’ar, who last month decided to cut all contacts with Kallas after she reportedly compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa during a, closed-door meeting in Mexico City, said she ‘’has chosen to continue her obsessive campaign against Israel, referring the matter to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), in an attempt to keep the campaign alive and find a new way to circumvent the rules.”’’Israel’s relations with Europe should be based on dialogue and fairness. Tricks like this do nothing to advance our shared interests,’’ Sa’ar added.

Asked for a reaction to Sa’ar’s comments,  EU’s foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said at the daily briefing of the European Commission: ‘’I’ll happily reiterate a position in a very calm way, as we have addressed this issue in the past. The High Representative (Kaja Kallas) has been consistently clear about the importance of dialogue and engagement with Israe. She remains committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.’