UK government sanctions Israeli ministers for ‘inciting settler violence’ against Palestinians

The UK government has sanctioned two Israeli government ministers due to their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”, the Foreign Office has said.

The two ministers are Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and the UK is imposing sanctions alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway.

The ministers are being sanctioned in their personal capacities, and are now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification.

Politics latest: Sanctions ‘a major step’

The Foreign Office says they are “responsible for, engaging in, inciting, promoting and/or supporting activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in particular acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank”.

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, condemned the decision as “outrageous”, and said he had discussed the move with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, earlier on Tuesday.

“We will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision,” he added.

Mr Ben-Gvir is the far-right national security minister in the Netanyahu government, and is the leader of the Jewish Power party in the Knesset (parliament).

Our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn explains that he was “once convicted of being a member of a Jewish terrorist organisation and advocated the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands”.

Mr Smotrich is the finance minister and a Jewish settler who has denied the existence of Palestinians as a people. He leads the National Religious Party – Religious Zionism party in the Knesset.

Dominic Waghorn reports that he has most recently said “not a grain of wheat” should be allowed to enter Gaza, saying it will be “entirely destroyed” and its people should be encouraged to leave in great numbers to go to other countries.

Last October, former foreign secretary Lord David Cameron told Sky News he’d planned to sanction them while in government but “ran out of time” when the surprise election was called for July.

Cameron, who returned to frontline politics under Rishi Sunak, said Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had made “abhorrent” comments.

He said: “I was looking at the things we could do to say to the Israelis we back your right to self-defence… but at the same time, we do want you to try and obey… humanitarian law.

“And these two ministers are people who have tried, they’ve encouraged you, to stop aid getting into Gaza and encouraged the extreme settlers in the West Bank to carry out illegal acts.

“So it seemed to me it was worth looking at whether we could sanction these two individual ministers.”

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