The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Norway and the United Kingdom said on Tuesday that they were taking “coordinated action” to sanction “extremist settlers” for what they said were “horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians.”
Penny Wong joined the other foreign ministers in issuing a joint statement proclaiming, “Extremist violent settlers, with the backing of their supporters, continue to attack Palestinians and abuse their human rights,” the countries said. “They use violence to displace Palestinians, destroy property and perpetuate the illegal settlement enterprise, undermining the viability of the state of Palestine and the prospects for peaceful coexistence.”
The five recognise a Palestinian state. Israel and the United States does not.
Yvette Cooper, the U.K. foreign secretary, said that the group is imposing sanctions on one person and six entities “involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the occupied West Bank.” (Some refer to Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)
“Those designated will face asset freezes and, where appropriate, travel bans and director disqualifications,” Cooper told Parliament. “These sanctions will disrupt the flows of finance that have allowed extremist settler groups to act with impunity in the West Bank and demonstrate the U.K.’s commitment to a two-state solution.”
Itamar Yehuda Levi and his company Eyal Hari Yehuda were sanctioned, as were the Farms Association, Ahavat Gilad, Ari Yshag, Artzenu and Shivat Zion Lerigvey Admata.
The Biden administration also sanctioned Eyal Hari Yehuda in late 2024. It previously sanctioned the wrong person, which it called a “data error.” On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump revoked the prior administration’s sanctions on Judea and Samaria.
Israel said on Tuesday that it “firmly rejects” the new sanctions and a visa ban that France announced against Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, and “four leaders of settler organizations and 21 violent settlers.”
Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, called the decision “disgraceful.”
“The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—camouflaged as measures against violence,” he stated.
The United Kingdom banned Smotrich in 2025.
The countries announcing new sanctions on Israel have in common a “resounding failure to combat the antisemitism that is rampant in their own countries,” Sa’ar said.
Anti-Israeli policies “of the kind adopted today only serve to fuel that antisemitism,” he stated. “Astonishingly, these governments have also failed to impose sanctions or take action against the phenomena that truly drive violence—the Palestinian Authority’s salaries for terrorists policy and incitement.”
Penny Wong is always so happy to proclaim … whatever … in the company of others. ‘International community’ is her second name.
I am, however, concerned at the increasing disturbance and violence coming from some of the so-called extremist settlers and that is incited by the likes of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. Israel needs to do something about this scenario and take it in hand.
New settlements and violence in Yehuda/Shomron are two distinct activities. Violence should be condemned, but new settlements No! E1 should proceed. There will not be a Palestinian state in that area. October 2023 guaranteed that -despite the Australian govt’s flirtation with British and French left- wing leaders who in effect rewarded the attackers with their declaration.
These measures are fundamentally intended to force the way to a two-state solution but Israelis totally reject that notion following what happened on Oct 7th/ These sanctimonious sanctions are just done for the sake of their constituencies to show them that something is being done to put pressure on Israel.