The United States condemned a group of Western nations for imposing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, urging them to be cancelled and for “our partners not to forget who the real enemy is”.
The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway placed sanctions on Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich for “inciting violence against the Palestinian people” on Tuesday. They said the government ministers incited “settler violence” and “human rights abuses”, saying they “imperilled” the “two-state solution” the United Kingdom wishes to achieve in Israel.
The sanctions activated are “an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification”. London said in a joint statement with the four other states:
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel 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. These actions are not acceptable. We have engaged the Israeli Government on this issue extensively, yet violent perpetrators continue to act with encouragement and impunity.
Sanctioning Israeli government ministers did not imply a deviation from “our unwavering support for Israel’s security”, they nevertheless claimed. Further, it was stated that while Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are Israeli government ministers, they were being sanctioned by the five nations in their “personal capacity”.
Israel and the United States reacted with concern to the announcement. Ben-Gvir vowed that Israel would continue to fight “terrorism” and compared those who had agreed to the sanctions to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who attempted to prevent a wider European war with Nazi Germany in 1938 by appeasing Berlin’s desire to control the Sudetenland.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the five nations to reverse their decision and lift the sanctions, saying punishing Israeli govenrment ministers did not advance the aim of a ceasefire. He said in a statement: “The United States condemns the sanctions imposed… These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war.”
Rubio said: “Hamas is a terrorist organization… We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”
The sanctions come just weeks after the United Kingdom suspended trade talks with Israel over what it called an “intolerable” military operation in Gaza. As reported then:
… the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also addressed Parliament on Israel, announcing the United Kingdom had suspended trade talks with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador. He told the house: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict… We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms”…
The hardening of sentiment by the British government towards Israel is just the latest such development since the left-wing Labour government took power last year. Under the previous Conservative government, Israel had received support including weapons contracts and tacit defence at the International Criminal Court as it attempted to arrest Netanyahu.
Yet those legal opinions were withdrawn after that government fell, the British have now accused Israel of breaching international law, and may be on the path to recognising a Palestinian state. Activists in the UK also target companies providing military equipment to Israel, breaking into weapons factories and smashing the equipment.
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