From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Report: UK to impose sanctions on Smotrich, Ben Gvir over comments on Gaza
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The UK will join Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in sanctioning National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over comments about Gaza, The Times of London reports.
The UK outlet reports that the countries will freeze the assets of the two far-right ministers and impose travel bans.
In May, British Foreign Minister David Lammy announced that the United Kingdom was suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on some West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking to parliament, Lammy accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
“Minister Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces ‘cleansing’ Gaza, ‘destroying what’s left,’ of resident Palestinians ‘being relocated to third countries,'” Lammy said. “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous. And I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
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