A leading figure in Germany's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) has ruled out sanctions against Israel in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"Criticism of the Israeli government is possible, but sanctions between friends are out of the question," said Martin Huber, secretary general of the CSU, in remarks to the RND media group published on Friday.
The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The two form a joint conservative bloc at the national level.
Huber's comments come as the EU Commission recommends partially suspending Israel's participation in Horizon Europe, the EU's key research and innovation programme. While Germany has taken a cautious stance, the government has not ruled out supporting such a move.
Huber also dismissed the idea of imposing entry bans on far-right Israeli ministers, a step already taken by the United Kingdom and Canada in June.
"I cannot imagine that we would impose entry bans on the democratically legitimate government of Israel," Huber said.
"Such measures would seriously damage German-Israeli relations," he added.
