Australia and allies sanction Israeli ministers for inciting settler violence
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The news: Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway have imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank.
The coordinated move, announced overnight, includes asset freezes and travel bans.
What they said: In a joint statement, the five countries said the ministers “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights” and described rhetoric advocating forced displacement and new settlements as “appalling and dangerous”.
Penny Wong told the ABC News Breakfast program that: "These two ministers have been the most extremist and hardline of an extremist settler enterprise, which is both unlawful and violent."
The UK said 2024 had seen “the worst settler violence” in the West Bank in two decades.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar called the move “outrageous” and said the government would meet next week to respond.
A US State Department spokesperson described the sanctions as “extremely unhelpful”, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement: “These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war”.
The source: Joint statement
