Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly “inciting extremist violence” against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face asset freezes and travel bans from the five countries. The ministers are champions of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence, which has spiked since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.
The five countries’ foreign ministers said in a joint statement that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said earlier it had been informed of the sanctions.
Smotrich, the country’s finance minister, wrote on social media that he found out that Britain had decided to sanction him for obstructing the viability of a Palestinian state. “We are determined to continue building,” he said.
AP
