Smotrich says Finance Ministry preparing ‘very painful’ measures against countries that sanction Israel

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says his office is preparing retaliatory measures to impose on any countries that are threatening to impose sanctions on Israel.

His remarks at a meeting of industrialists in the settlement city of Ma’ale Adumim come after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced earlier this week that the UK was planning a “comprehensive set of measures” against Israeli settlements over the controversial E1 settlement project.

“The idea that we could be forced to commit suicide and establish a terrorist state here in the heart of the land of Israel, through criminalization…or through economic sanctions, is unacceptable,” Smotrich says in remarks carried by Hebrew-language news outlets.

“Nobody can try and force us to commit suicide through sanctions and economic pressure,” the Religious Zionism chair continues. “We are done being passive actors.”

He says his office is “currently preparing a package of very painful responses in political and economic fields against countries that think they will be imposing sanctions.”