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The United Kingdom is placing sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced on Tuesday.
Lammy said the ministers had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir will have their assets frozen and face travel bans, a move that is expected to be matched by other international allies as well.
In a statement, the UK Foreign Office said they are acting “alongside partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called it an “unacceptable decision” and said the cabinet will meet next week to decide on a response.
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have repeatedly called for Israel to conquer Gaza and re-establish Jewish settlements there.
Last month, Smotrich said “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” and has campaigned against allowing aid into the territory. Ben-Gvir has also called for the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from the territory.
Referring to the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, Smotrich said in a post on X that “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do it again. We are determined to continue building.”
“Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous,” the statement from the UK Foreign Office said.
Settlements and the two-state solution
It also said that “the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop.”
Settlement growth and construction in the occupied West Bank have been promoted by successive Israeli governments stretching back decades, but it has exploded under Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, which has settlers in key Cabinet posts.
There are now well over 100 settlements and around 500,000 Israeli settlers sprawling across the area.
Rights groups argue that the settlements, illegal under international law, are a hurdle to an eventual two-state solution.
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