LONDON, June 10, 2025 (WAFA) – The UK and several allies are set to sanction Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over their conduct during the genocidal war on Gaza, according to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
London will join Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Israel's violently extremist Jewish supremacist National Security Minister Ben Gvir - a West Bank settler - and Finance Minister Smotrich
“UK sanctions Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich today, in response to their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities,” the FCO said in a press release.
“Alongside partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, the UK is 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 two have fiercely opposed the entry of international aid into Gaza and advocated for the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the territory, with Smotrich pledging last month that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” and that Palestinians will “leave in great numbers to third countries”.
The FCO said that both ministers are sanctioned as “Palestinian communities in the West Bank continue to suffer from severe acts of violence by extremist Israeli settlers which also undermine a future Palestinian state.”
“In their personal capacity, Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are now sanctioned for their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians, effective immediately,” it added.
The announcement came after UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, along with the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway slammed both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for inciting “extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights,” described their actions are “not acceptable”, and initiated action to “hold those responsible to account.”
The Ministers reiterated their steadfast commitment to the two-state solution and pledged to “continue to work with our partners towards its implementation”, while affirming that “It is the only way to guarantee security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long term stability in the region, but it is imperilled by extremist settler violence and settlement expansion.”
They stressed the importance of achieving an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, unimpeded entry of aid into the war-battered enclave, and a “path two a two-state solution”.
The UK reiterated demands that Israel “must cease expansion of illegal settlements which undermine a future Palestinian state, clamp down on settler violence, and condemn inflammatory and extremist statements from both individuals.”
K.F.
