France urges EU to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Saturday urged European Union member states to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. He called the current arrangement abnormal and drew a parallel to the bloc's response to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Speaking to RFI radio, Barrot said he had pressed European counterparts this week to advance the initiative, noting that the settlements violate international law. "The settlements are illegal. It is not normal that the European Union can support this trade," he said. He added that the bloc halted imports from Crimea following Moscow's occupation.

'Unprecedented explosion of violence'

Barrot also denounced what he termed an "unprecedented explosion of violence" by Israeli occupiers in the West Bank. He warned that the escalation undermines Palestinian dignity, Israel's security, and prospects for a two-state solution. "This is the same thing that we must do with the illegal settlements," he stated, though he conceded that such trade restrictions demand consensus among EU governments.

Niger mutiny denial

Turning to West Africa, Barrot rejected accusations that France instigated the Aug. 29 mutiny in Niger as "pure fantasy," stating that Paris possesses neither the intention nor the means to participate. "All of this is, as usual, a way of wrongly pointing the finger at a responsibility of France that simply does not exist," he said. The foreign minister was responding to Niamey's claims that French agents supported the mutineers who attacked a military airbase before loyalist forces — supported by Russia's Africa Corps — regained control.