THE UK Government has sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers over their comments about Gaza, reports have said.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister, will have their assets frozen and travel bans imposed.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway are also set to impose sanctions on the two ministers.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy joined his counterparts from the four other countries in releasing a joint statement as they imposed the sanctions.
It said the Israeli ministers had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
“These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now — to hold those responsible to account," it added.
Israel's foreign minister confirmed the move on Tuesday, claiming the sanctions were “outrageous”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to maintain his fragile coalition government.
Smotrich approved the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He also campaigned against allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“Gaza will be entirely destroyed,” he said last month, adding that Palestinians will “leave in great numbers to third countries”.
Ben-Gvir has advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, and said that the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem should be replaced with a synagogue.
“There is no need to bring in aid [to Gaza]. They have enough,” he said earlier this year.
Ben-Gvir also said that the decision to resume aid deliveries was a “serious and grave mistake”.
According to the Times newspaper, the UK is now on the brink of imposing sanctions over their comments, which Foreign Secretary David Lammy described as “monstrous”.
“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict,” Lammy told the House of Commons last month.
“Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.
"Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries.”
The sanctions will mean that the ministers cannot travel to the UK and financial institutions in the UK will be banned from interacting with them.
They will reportedly be similar sanctions to those imposed on Russian citizens following the war in Ukraine.
Scottish MSP Ross Greer said of the reports: “Sanctioning two individual ministers for their incitement to genocide is good and long overdue, but how does the UK Government square that with continuing to sell arms to Israel and failing to sanction Netanyahu himself?”
Smotrich has responsibility for Israel’s civilian administrative control in the West Bank, as well as role as finance minister.
Ben-Gvir was convicted of incitement to racism in 2007, and oversees border police in the Palestinian territory.
Both are ultra-nationalists who have called for annexation of the West Bank.
After reports of the incoming sanctions emerged, Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, said he had spoken with Netanyahu and that an Israeli response would be discussed at a meeting early next week.
He said: “We were informed about the UK decision to include two of our ministers on the British sanctions list.
“It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kind of measures.
“I discussed it earlier today with PM Netanyahu and we will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision.”
Lammy was pressed by journalists in London on why the UK and its allies were acting against ministers in the Israeli government but not Netanyahu himself.
“We are sanctioning the two ministers who have used horrendous extremist language,” Lammy said, adding that he would “encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language”.
Asked whether the UK would encourage Netanyahu to sack the ministers, Mr Lammy said: “The Israeli government will make their own determination.”
But from the UK’s perspective, he said: “We have to be clear that we act when we see these egregious individuals encouraging – encouraging – abuses of human rights in this way.”
