Europe’s highest-ranking diplomat will call for sanctions against two far-right Israeli ministers as the EU struggles to salvage its credibility in Middle East policy.

At a meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Thursday, Josep Borrell will call for sanctions against Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right government ministers whose inflammatory statements and behavior have drawn international criticism.

Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, recently sparked outrage with his visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Temple Mount, a site holy to Muslims and Jews. The ultranationalist minister, who is trying to disrupt the ceasefire talks, said he went there to pray, violating the status quo that allows only Muslims to pray while others are allowed to visit the Temple Mount.

Ben-Gvir has also repeatedly called for an end to aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza and reiterated this position earlier this month.

Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich also sparked outrage earlier this month when he said it might be “justified and moral” to let two million people in Gaza starve to death in order to free the remaining Israeli hostages captured in Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7.

Apparently, Borrell responded to these comments with a tweet on August 11: “While the world is pushing for a ceasefire in #Gaza, Minister Ben Gvir is calling for cuts to the supply of fuel and aid to civilians. Like Minister Smotrich’s sinister comments, this is incitement to war crimes. Sanctions must be on our EU agenda.”

A few days later, in response to further attacks by Israeli settlers on a West Bank village, he said: “I confirm my intention to put forward a proposal for EU sanctions against supporters of violent settlers, including some members of the Israeli government.”

Borrell, who has repeatedly called on the Israeli government to stop escalating settler attacks, is expected to call for sanctions at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday. No formal proposal will be put forward and EU officials expect Hungary and the Czech Republic – two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest allies – to reject the plans.

Nevertheless, EU sources believe the proposal should be pursued – on its own initiative and also as an attempt to restore the bloc’s damaged international credibility over the Israel-Gaza war.

“The aim is to openly denounce the behavior of Israeli ministers and to show that the EU is trying to maintain its credibility and that we do not have double standards,” a source said.

Unlike the war in Ukraine, where the bloc’s forces (with the exception of Hungary) were largely united, views in the Israel-Gaza conflict often differed sharply.

EU member states voted for or abstained from UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip last October and for large-scale aid deliveries to the area in December.

The no votes and abstentions in New York not only highlighted the divisions within the EU, they also showed that EU countries are in a different camp than many countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America. They fuelled accusations of double standards in relation to the EU’s strong condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Borrell is said to be concerned about how the EU is perceived in the world.

Although often divided on the Middle East, the EU has imposed sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers and organizations involved in human rights abuses and violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.