Britain and four allies joined forces Tuesday to sanction two Israeli ministers for “repeated incitements of violence” against Palestinians, upping their condemnation of Israel’s actions around the war in Gaza.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen, Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The announcement was a rare joint action alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway and comes as the Israeli government faces growing international criticism over its conduct of the conflict with Hamas.
The sanction sees the five countries break from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”, the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement.
“These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now –- to hold those responsible to account,” they added.
Smotrich and Ben Gvir are part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile ruling coalition.
Both have drawn criticism for their hard-line stance on the war in Gaza and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.
Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has increasingly called for the territory’s annexation.
Last month, he said Gaza would be “entirely destroyed” and that civilians would “start to leave in great numbers to third countries”.
Ben Gvir has also called for Gazans to be resettled from the besieged territory.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the pair have used “horrendous extremist language” and that he would “encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language”.
Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had been informed by Britain of its sanctions decision, describing the move as “outrageous”.
The UK foreign ministry said in its statement that “extremist settlers have carried out over 1,900 attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year”.
– ‘Personal capacity’ –
It said the five countries were “clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop”.
“Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold international humanitarian law,” the foreign ministry said.
It added that the UK and its partners “support Israel’s security and will continue to work with the Israeli government to strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.
“Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance,” it added.
The action comes after the British government suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel last month and summoned its ambassador over the conduct of the war.
It also announced financial restrictions and travel bans on several prominent settlers, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.
