Jerusalem-Gran Brittany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said on Tuesday that they have imposed sanctions on two ministers of the Israeli government of the extreme right for allegedly “incite extremist violence” against the Palestinians in West Bank occupied by Israel.
The decision of the Western Governments with Israel was a strong reprimand of Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and the violence of the settlers, which has skyrocketed since October 7, 2023 of Hamas, the terrorist attack on the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, key partners of the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are Israeli settlement champions that support the war in Gaza, facilitating what they call the voluntary emigration of their Palestinian population and the reconstruction of the Jewish settlements there.
Now they could face freezing and travel prohibitions.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the five countries said that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “have prompted extremist violence and serious abuse of Palestinian human rights. The extremist rhetoric that advocates the forced displacement of the Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is frightening and dangerous.”
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, David Lammy, said that the two men “have been inciting violence against the Palestinian peoples for months and months” and “encouraging atrocious abuses of human rights.”
“These measures are aimed at people who contribute directly to the violence of extremist settlers,” said Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand. “The measures are not directed against the state of Israel.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Smotrich and Ben-Gvir “have severely and deliberately” peace and security perspectives by “inciting violence and forced displacement.”
“Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immensely on October 7 and who have continued to suffer the continuous refusal of Hamas to free all hostages,” Peters said in a statement. “Nor is it designed to sanction the broader Israeli government.”
Smotrich wrote on social networks that he learned of the sanctions while inaugurated a new agreement in the West Bank. “We are determined to continue building,” he said.
Ben-Gvir, also writing on social networks, said “we surpassed Pharoah, we will overcome the Starmer Wall”, referring to the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States condemned the sanctions and urged his reversion.
“We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organization that committed indescribable atrocities, continues to retain innocent civilians as hostages and prevents Gaza people from living in peace,” he said in a publication about X. “We remind our couples who do not forget who the true enemy is.”
The Israel government also condemned the announcement, which occurred when the traditional Allies of Israel intensified the complaints of Israel’s actions in Gaza, from the high number of civil deaths to a blockade of months that led to famine warnings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the decision of sanctions as “outrageous.” He said he had argued with Netanyahu and that they would meet next week to discuss Israel’s response.
He said the measure threatened to harden Hamas’ position in the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza and shorten Israel’s operation in Gaza before achieving its objectives.
Benny Gantz, a centrist Israeli legislator and political rival from Netanyahu, wrote that “vehemently” did not agree with Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, but said that the measure was a “deep moral error and sends a dangerous message to terrorists around the world.”
Netanyahu is the objective of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court last year on alleged war crimes in Gaza, part of a global wave of indignation in Israel’s conduct during his 20 -month war against Hamas. Netanyahu has denied the accusations and accused the court of being partial against Israel.
The Biden administration gave the rare step of sanctioning the radical Israeli settlers involved in violence in occupied West Bank, sanctions that were raised by President Donald Trump.
Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who spent years campaigning for the sanctions to Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, along with the violent holiday settlers, described Tuesday’s movement as “historical.”
“It means that the wall of immunity that Israeli politicians had been broken,” he said. “It is incredible that it has taken so long in Western governments to sanction Israeli politicians, and the fact that it is being done while Trump is president is quite surprising.”
Mack added: “It is a message for Netanyahu who could be the next one.”
Israel captured the West Bank, together with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the Middle East War of 1967. The Palestinians want the three territories for a future state.
Successive Israeli governments have promoted the growth of settlements and construction that extend decades. It has exploded under the extreme right coalition of Netanyahu, which has settlers in key cabinet posts.
Now there are more than 100 settlements throughout the West Bank that houses more than 500,000 settlers. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians of the territory live under the Israeli military government, with the Palestinian authority that manages population centers.
The majority of the international community considers settlements illegal, and the Palestinians see them as the greatest obstacle to an eventual solution of two states, which is still seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict.
