British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that the government was weighing up sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Asked in parliament if the government would sanction the pair, Starmer said: “We are looking at that because there are obviously abhorrent comments along with other really concerning activity in the West Bank.”
National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, the finance minister, are vocal supporters of settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.
Smotrich has also triggered an international uproar by suggesting it would be justified to starve two million Gazans to free Israeli hostages in the Palestinian territory.
Earlier this week, former foreign secretary David Cameron revealed that the previous Conservative government had been “working on” sanctions against the “extreme” politicians.
Starmer’s Labour government announced separate sanctions against seven Israeli settler outposts and organisations on Tuesday.
Israeli settler violence and military raids have intensified in the occupied territory following Hamas’s October 7 attack last year.
Pointing to the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza, Starmer also called for Israel to “take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties, to allow aid into Gaza in much greater volume”.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy meanwhile announced that the UK, France and Algeria had called an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council following UN reports that “barely any food has entered” North Gaza in the last two weeks.
France bans Israeli firms from trade show
Meanwhile, France banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show, two sources aware of the matter said today, the latest incident to highlight an increasingly tense relationship between the two allies.
Paris had already banned Israeli firms from taking part in a military trade show earlier this year. The defence ministry at the time said the conditions were no longer right for the companies to take part when President Emmanuel Macron is “calling for Israel to cease operations in Gaza”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Macron’s decision to ban Israeli firms from exhibiting at a naval arms show “a disgrace”.
“We will continue defending our nation against enemies on 7 different fronts, and fighting for our future — with or without France,” Gallant posted on X.
The French defence ministry, foreign ministry, Israeli embassy and Euronaval, which is organising the annual naval fair between November 4-7, did not respond to requests for comment.
Tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Macron have increased in recent weeks after Paris had worked with Washington to secure a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah that would then open the door to negotiations on a long-term diplomatic solution.
Despite believing Israel had agreed the terms, France and the US were caught by surprise when the next day Israel launched strikes that killed then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Officials say there is no prospect of a ceasefire in the immediate term. Paris has turned its attention to trying to set the parameters for a diplomatic solution once the fighting stops.
However, Macron has irked Netanyahu and his government several times in recent weeks, notably as United Nations’ forces have been caught in Israeli crossfire in southern Lebanon. He has called for an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza.
On Tuesday, according to a French official, he told a cabinet meeting that Netanyahu should not forget that his country was created by a UN decision. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot sought to downplay the comments, saying they had been general remarks reminding Israel of the importance of respecting the UN charter.
Netanyahu’s office said in response that Israel was established through “the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in France”, referring to the French government that had collaborated with Nazi Germany.
Two diplomats said the recent exchanges would not facilitate French efforts to mediate in Lebanon.
It is hosting a conference in Paris next week.
Netanyahu questioned Paris’s intentions, accusing it of inviting South Africa and Algeria, which he said were working to deny “Israel its fundamental right of self-defence and, in effect, reject its very right to exist”.
