Slovenia becomes first EU country to impose arms embargo on Israel

Slovenia has become the first country in the European Union to ban all weapons trade with Israel over its war on Gaza.

The announcement comes two weeks after the Central European nation declared Israeli ministers persona non grata, the state news agency STA reported.

The arms embargo was announced by Prime Minister Robert Golob after a government session on Thursday.

“Slovenia is the first European country to ban the import, export and transit of weapons to and from Israel,” the government said in a statement.

It said it was moving ahead “independently” because the EU was “unable to adopt concrete measures … due to internal disagreements and disunity”.

Amid the devastating war in Gaza, where “people … are dying because humanitarian aid is systematically denied them”, it was the “duty of every responsible state to take action, even if it means taking a step ahead of others”, the statement said.

It added that the government had not issued any permits for the export of military weapons and equipment to Israel since October 2023 because of the conflict.

Early in July, Slovenia – also in an EU first – banned two far-right Israeli ministers from entering the country.

It declared both Israelis “persona non grata”, accusing them of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements”.