11.11.11 and partners demand EU sanctions against Israel's colonization policy
26 September 2025
3 minutes
A coalition of five human rights organizations, including 11.11.11has submitted a comprehensive sanctions dossier to the European Union against the World Zionist Organization (WZO), its Settlement Division, and Israeli Minister Orit Strook. The dossier demonstrates how they systematically contribute to the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, the expropriation of Palestinian land, and violence against civilians in the West Bank. The colonization of the West Bank goes far beyond individuals. Europe must finally target the structures behind the occupation.
Tackle the architecture of the occupation
He came with a bulldozer. Not as a symbol, but literally. In July 2025, the infamous Israeli settler shot Yinon Levi the Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen killed during a nonviolent protest in Masafer Yatta. Hathaleen was a well-known human rights defender who also worked on the Oscar-winning documentary In the Other LandLevi—a notorious settler with a long history of violence against Palestinians—was not hindered in any way afterward. “I’m glad he’s dead,” he later told Israeli media. The images of the trail of blood on the dusty hills of South Hebron went around the world. But what is much less visible: Levi has for years received active support from a quasi-governmental organization—the World Zionist Organization (WZO) — which enables the colonization of Palestinian territory through financial support, land allocation, and political protection.
That is why five human rights organisations – including 11.11.11 — the European Union to put an end to this system. They are filing a sanctions dossier against the WZO, its Settlement Division, and the far-right Israeli minister. Orit Strook, which has been mandated since late 2022 to expand illegal settlements in occupied territory. The dossier, compiled in collaboration with Canadian and American organizations, documents how these actors not only support individual settlers like Levi, but also create the structural architecture behind what amounts to war crimes under international law.
The requirement is clear: place these settings and figures on the European sanctions list — and let Belgium take the lead. The WZO dossier is the first in a series of sanctions dossiers that the organizations will submit in the coming months.
From individual perpetrators to large structures
The dossier not only points to violent settlers, but analyses the political and financial architecture that makes this reality possible. Since 1968, the WZO's Settlement Division has administered nearly a third of the land in Area C of the West Bank. This area, under Israeli military control, is the epicenter of settlement.
We documented how the WZO uses fraudulent mortgages, allocations of private Palestinian land, and legal constructs to enable settlers to establish illegal outposts. By May 2023, the WZO had already allocated land to 87 illegal outposts, including private Palestinian land. From these outposts, violent and extremist settlers terrorize Palestinian villages and farmers.
Belgium can take action today
Current EU sanctions (ended in April and July 2024) are limited to a handful of violent individuals — this dossier aims to target the infrastructure that facilitates their actions. The organizations therefore demand that the WZO, its Settlement Division, and Minister Strook be added to the EU sanctions list. European Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime — which would lead to travel bans, asset freezes, and financial transaction bans. They call on Belgium to continue to take the lead in this matter and, pending a European consensus, to impose national sanctions.
Organizations such as the WZO and figures like Strook play a key role in the expansion of illegal settlementsAt a time when Israel openly says it will never tolerate a Palestinian state and is preparing to formalize annexation, it is time for concrete and decisive action that will strike at the very foundations of the occupation. Belgium can already send a signal today — without waiting for the EU.
This plea aligns with recent Belgian positions. In April 2025, for example, Belgium spoke out at the UN Human Rights Council in favor of targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory. And the federal Gaza resolution of May 2025 explicitly advocated for expanding the European sanctions regime.
