Six western nations impose sanctions on Israeli settlers and ban finance minister Smotrich over West Bank violence

The coordinated move

Six western nations issued a joint statement on Tuesday announcing new sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and entities involved in violence and illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The group comprises Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. The foreign ministers declared that violent extremist settlers, with support from their backers, continue to attack Palestinians and violate their human rights.

For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel.

Each country announced its own set of measures. The UK sanctioned six entities and one individual involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence. Norway indicated it would adopt the same sanctions the EU agreed upon last month.

Smotrich declared persona non grata

France imposed an entry ban on Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organisations and 21 violent settlers. French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated that Smotrich actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, the creation of new settlements, the recolonisation of Gaza and the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

It's a policy that an overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly attached to the two-state solution, cannot accept.

Smotrich is the second Israeli minister barred from France. On 23 May, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was banned after footage showed him mocking activists seized on a Gaza-bound aid ship, with dozens of detainees bound and kneeling on a military vessel deck.

UK stops short of trade ban

The British government updated its guidance to advise businesses against economic and financial activity in illegal settlements, but foreign secretary Yvette Cooper declined to impose an outright trade ban. She told MPs that constructing an enforceable ban was difficult in practice, though the issue would be kept under review with international partners.

The truth is that British firms are bankrolling annexations one settlement at a time.

More than 130 Labour MPs, including all select committee chairs, had called for a complete ban, citing the 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion. The new guidance warns that economic activity in settlements may result in reputational damage and disputed titles to land, water, mineral or other natural resources. Products from Israeli settlements have not been entitled to preferential tariff treatment upon entry to the UK since 2005.

Israel's response

Israel's foreign ministry condemned the measures as disgraceful and accused the six governments of fuelling antisemitism through anti-Israeli policies. The ministry said the sanctions masked an attempt to impose a political position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel.

Broader context

The sanctions arrive at a low point in relations between Europe and Israel. European allies have grown increasingly critical of the accelerated pace of West Bank annexations and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among Israel's staunchest supporters, have adopted notably tougher stances in recent months. The Israeli government, dominated by settler leaders and supporters, has overseen a surge in settlement construction over the past four years while settler violence against Palestinians has proliferated, with perpetrators rarely punished.