Britain sanctions Israeli ministers over Gaza comments

Britain has formally sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers over their “monstrous” comments about Gaza, in a significant break with Washington.

The UK joined Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries on Tuesday in freezing the assets of and imposing travel bans on Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has relied on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to maintain his fragile coalition government.

• Smotrich and Ben-Gvir: their stories in depth

Smotrich has approved the expansion of West Bank settlements — which are illegal under international law — and campaigned against allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying previously he would allow “not even a grain of wheat” to enter the war zone. He said last month that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” and that Palestinians will “leave in great numbers to third countries”.

Ben-Gvir has advocated the replacement of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem with a synagogue and the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. “We must encourage emigration. Encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza,” he said last year.

Last month he said “there is no need to bring in aid [to Gaza]. They have enough”. He said the decision to resume aid deliveries was a “serious and grave mistake”.

Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News that the situation in Gaza was “intolerable”. He said: “I think anybody looking at what’s going on in Gaza would be shocked, and that’s why we do need to get back to a ceasefire urgently. It’s why we need to get the remaining hostages out, they’ve been there a very long time.

“And of course, humanitarian aid needs to get in at volume and at speed. We are talking to other partners about what more we could do, including questions of sanctions. My strong belief is [that] when we make a move if we’re able to do that in company of other countries that’s a stronger move than doing it on our own.”

The sanctions mean that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are both banned from entering Britain and also bans any financial institutions based in the UK from dealing with them. They are similar to the sanctions imposed on senior Russian figures linked to the war in Ukraine.

Ben-Gvir greets supporters during the Jerusalem Day Flag March on May 26 AMIR LEVY/GETTY IMAGES

A spokesman for the Israeli government said: “It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kind of measures.” Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, said: “This is a scandal. We will hold a special government meeting next week to decide on our response.”

Starmer made a joint statement in May with President Macron, the French president, and Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, telling Israel it was at risk of breaching international law.

It prompted a furious response from Netanyahu, who accused them of fuelling antisemitism. He said: “I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice. You’re on the wrong side of humanity, and you’re on the wrong side of history.”

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said Ben-Gvir and Smotrich had both “incited extremist violence”.

In a joint statement with other foreign ministers he said: “Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have 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.

Lammy: We stand for a two-state solution

“We will strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the remaining hostages by Hamas which can have no future role in the governance of Gaza, a surge in aid and a path to a two-state solution.”

Lammy told the Commons last month: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. 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.

“Yesterday, minister [Bezalel] Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries.” He added: “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.”

Smotrich responded to the announcement on X yesterday, saying: “We are determined to continue building.”

Ben-Gvir wrote on X: “We overcame Pharoah, we’ll overcome Starmer’s Wall.”

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are both powerful members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition and ultra-nationalists who have long demanded the annexation of the West Bank.

As well as being finance minister, Smotrich has responsibility for Israel’s civilian administrative control in the West Bank. He visited Washington for a meeting with Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, in March, after years of effectively being shunned by President Trump’s predecessor.

Ben-Gvir, who was convicted of incitement to racism in 2007, oversees border police in the Palestinian territory, and before taking office kept in his house a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 murdered more than two dozen Palestinian worshippers in a mosque in Hebron.

There are 2.1 million Palestinians living on the brink of famine in Gaza following an 80-day Israeli blockade of food, fuel and medicine, according to a recent UN report. A controversial US and Israeli-backed scheme to deliver aid using American security contractors has resulted in over 100 deaths, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.

On Tuesday, another 17 people were killed by Israeli soldiers as they sought food from one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s four distribution sites, they said.

The two men were close to being sanctioned by the Conservative government last year. Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton revealed after his time as foreign secretary that he had been preparing to target Smotrich and Ben-Gvir during his final days in post.