UK, allies sanction Israel's Smotrich and Ben Gvir over incitement, West Bank attacks

The UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway announced on Tuesday that they are imposing sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers over what they described as repeated incitement of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir are now subject to travel bans and asset freezes, the UK foreign ministry confirmed in a statement.

The decision marks a rare break from the United States, Israel’s closest ally, and comes amid rising global criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and its conduct of the war on Gaza.

The five Western countries said in a joint statement that both ministers "have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights".

The statement added: "These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now – to hold those responsible to account."

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the two ministers' rhetoric as "horrendous extremist language" and urged the Israeli government to disavow their remarks.

Both Smotrich and Ben Gvir lashed out in response. Ben Gvir invoked biblical language, saying: "We overcame Pharaoh, we’ll overcome Keir Starmer too."

Smotrich accused the UK of once again trying to obstruct Jewish settlement, saying: "They already tried once to prevent us from settling our ancestral homeland, and we won’t let them do so again."

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the move, calling it "outrageous" that elected officials were being targeted.

The sanctions follow months of inflammatory statements from the two ministers. Smotrich recently said Gaza "will be entirely destroyed" and that civilians "will start to leave in great numbers to third countries".

Ben Gvir has echoed similar calls for the forced displacement of Palestinians from the besieged and battered enclave.

According to the UK government, more than 1,900 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians have taken place since January 2023. The statement underlined the UK's commitment to a two-state solution and to "challenging those inciting violence".

Smotrich, who lives in an illegal settlement in the West Bank, has long advocated for the formal annexation of Palestinian land.

The UK-based International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) welcomed the sanctions but stressed they were just a first step. "Responsibility does not start and end with them," the group said.

"This is no substitute for policies that dismantle the entire illegal occupation of Palestinian territory," the ICJP added, calling for broader sanctions against bodies like the World Zionist Organization and accountability for the Israeli military's command structure over what it described as war crimes, including genocide.

"There is a substantive need for the UK government to acknowledge and tackle the root cause of Palestinian suffering: Israel's well-engineered system of apartheid and its illegal and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, which have been in place for over 75 years," said Jonathan Purcell, the ICJP's senior public affairs officer.