ReasonableMatic
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The UK government is set to impose sanctions on Israeli ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday, according to people briefed on the matter.
The move would mark the first western sanctions against Israeli government ministers as frustration grows over the near cessation of aid to Gaza and Israel’s renewed offensive in the enclave.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Tuesday that his government had been “informed” of the UK’s decision.
“We were informed about the UK decision to include two of our ministers on the British sanctions list,” Sa’ar said, describing it as “outrageous”.
He added that he would hold a “special government meeting” early next week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision”.
Ben-Gvir said: “We overcame [the] pharaoh and we will overcome Keir Starmer.”
The UK government has been slowly ratcheting up pressure on Israel in recent weeks over what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described as the Netanyahu government’s “appalling” behaviour in Gaza, including restricting aid deliveries into the territory.
People briefed on the preparation of the sanctions said they marked a “big shift” in Labour’s approach to the Netanyahu government, which has recommenced military operations in Gaza and blocked the vast majority of aid from reaching the territory for the past three months.
Israel is a long-standing ally of the UK but the prolonged war in Gaza, which according to Palestinian officials has killed more than 53,500 people in the enclave, has started to strain relations as it drags on.
During Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 hostage.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy last month called off talks on a new free trade agreement with Israel over what he described as the “abominable” situation caused by its offensive in Gaza.
The UK government has previously placed sanctions on extremist Israeli West Bank settlers, but the latest restrictions mark the first on government ministers.
Labour announced it was suspending all direct arm sales to Israel in September, though the UK has continued supplying components manufactured in the UK for the F-35 fighter jet to a shared global pool.
UK sanctions Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir
Measures are the first western sanctions against government ministers from Israel
www.ft.com
