For years, the Israeli right has denounced any European Union (EU) protest against the settlement enterprise, which the Europeans claimed undermined the peace process. This time around, there have been more varied reactions in the Israeli government to the EU decision to refrain from signing agreements with Israeli organizations and companies operating in the territories across the Green Line. Aside from the fierce criticism against the new EU sanctions, concern was voiced by the right over the potentially adverse effects of the move on the peace process.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would have expected those truly interested in promoting peace and stability in the region to deal with the civil war in Syria and the Iranian nuclear program, and leave the settlements issue to direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zeev Elkin (both settlers), known for their “concern” for the fate of the Oslo agreement and the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, proposed to penalize the Europeans by driving them out of the political process and cutting off contact with them on the Palestinian issue.

The leader of HaBayit HaYehudi, Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett, outdid his colleagues. Bennett, whose interpretation of the “territory in exchange for peace” formula is that Israel takes control over the territories and gives the Palestinians peace in return, went as far as to threaten the EU, warning that Israel would deprive the EU of the “pleasure” of investing in water and sewage infrastructures in the territories — those basic infrastructures that Israel, as an occupying state, is required to provide under the international law.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid accused the Europeans of undermining the diplomatic process, noting that their decision “delivers to the Palestinians the message that they will have to pay nothing, on either the international or economic level, for their persistent refusal to resume negotiations, while leading them to believe that Israel will ultimately have no choice but to give in under the political and economic pressures exerted on it.” Lapid, who chairs the Yesh Atid party, argued that the EU decision “serves extremist elements like al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas,” no less!