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3 months ago
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The UK has placed sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, over their “monstrous” comments about Gaza, including plans to destroy the territory and use violence to gain control of new settlements in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir, the security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Smotrich, the finance minister, will face travel bans and have their assets frozen.
The move comes as the UK and other western countries seek to increase pressure on Israel’s government over the ongoing war in Gaza.
The US is not expected to be party to the move.
The Israeli government said it had been informed at lunchtime on Tuesday. Israel’s foreign affairs minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said it was “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,” he said.
Sanctions announcements are typically kept under wraps on the basis that advance warning gives those targeted the chance to remove their assets from the relevant jurisdiction.
UK ministers have had the option of imposing sanctions on the two ministers on their desks for more than a year, and only a fortnight ago decided to hold back after needing more work to secure international support for the move.
Smotrich has approved the expansion of West Bank settlements and campaigned against humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying in May that he would allow “not even a grain of wheat” to enter the war zone.
He said on 6 May that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries”.
In remarks condemned by Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, Smotrich said last year that the potential deaths of 2 million Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip from hunger might be justifiable.
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“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” he told a conference hosted by the Israel Hayom newspaper.
Ben Gvir stormed the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on 26 May and has called for the Muslim world’s third-holiest site to be replaced with a synagogue. He has also repeatedly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. “We must encourage emigration, encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza,” he said last year.
The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, described Smotrich’s comments as monstrous and repellant in the Commons a fortnight ago, but he held back from placing sanctions on the two men. He sanctioned a small group of settlers and announced there would be no further talks on an expanded trade deal with Israel.
Ministers were not scheduled to make a formal ministerial statement in the Commons on the new sanctions, but they are now expected to be pressed to do so.
