US condemns UK sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers

The Foreign Office said the decision was taken due to the pair’s “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank, but that they were sanctioned “in their personal capacity” rather than in their roles as government ministers.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, 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.”

In a further statement to Parliament yesterday evening, Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, told MPs: “These two men are responsible for inciting settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank – violence that has led to the death of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole towns and villages. That violence constitutes an abuse of Palestinians’ human rights. It is cruel, it is degrading, and it is completely unacceptable.

“We have told the Israeli Government repeatedly that we would take tougher action if this did not stop”, he said, adding that: “when we say something, we mean it. Today we and our partners have shown extremists that we will not sit by while they wreck the prospects of future peace.”

The announcement was not opposed by the Conservatives and Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, noted that sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich was even being considered by Lord Cameron when he was in government.

And it was warmly welcomed by the Liberal Democrats who, according to their foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller, had been the first party “to call for these sanctions last February, when the Ministers’ extremist views were already clear”, while adding that the government should recognise a Palestinian state.

In the two-hour discussion that followed the ministerial statement, several Labour MPs also demanded tougher action against Israel from the government.

“Their actions bear all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and plausible genocide. It is clear that the majority of us in this place want to recognise the state of Palestine, as do many of the public. Will the Minister feed back to the Prime Minister our strength of feeling on recognising Palestine now?”, asked Labour MP for Luton North, Sarah Owen.

“The Government must act now and end all arms sales to Israel. Anything less is not just a failure of diplomacy; it is an absolute failure of moral leadership in the face of a genocide”, added Bradford East MP Imran Hussain.

However, there was criticism of the government’s announcement from some corners of the House.

Democratic Unionist Party MP Sammy Wilson accused Falconer of “pandering to the increasingly loud anti-Israel voices on his back benches” and said the sanctions would “only encourage Hamas not to release the hostages and not to agree to a ceasefire”.

And, earlier this morning, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said in a post on social media that he agreed with the US’s condemnation of the government’s decision.

“These Israeli sanctions are wrong, a foolish gift to the terrorists Hamas”, he said, adding: “The international community should be ramping up pressure on Hamas to release the hostages, to get a ceasefire and start the long road to peace.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar issued a lengthy post on social media attacking the British government’s decision.

“The British Mandate for the land of Israel ended in May 1948. It will never return”, he said.

Sa’ar also claimed that the announcement would “contribute to hardening Hamas' stance in the negotiations for the hostage deal - and distance it and the ceasefire”.