LONDON
\nBritain and other international allies formally sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, following their conduct over the war in Gaza, The Times has reported.
\nLondon will join Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on Israel\u2019s national security minister Ben-Gvir, an occupied West Bank settler, and finance minister Smotrich, the London-based newspaper reported on Tuesday.
\nBritain\u2019s foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. However, Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the move is \u201coutrageous\u201d. Saar told reporters that the government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the \u201cunacceptable decision\u201d.
\nBritain, like other European countries, has been ramping up the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government to end the blockade on aid into Gaza, where international experts have warned that famine is imminent.
\nLondon last month suspended free trade talks with Israel for pursuing \u201cegregious policies\u201d in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, summoned its ambassador, and announced further sanctions against occupied West Bank settlers.
\nForeign Minister David Lammy, who called Israel\u2019s recent offensive \u201ca dark new phase in this conflict,\u201d has previously condemned comments by Smotrich on the possible cleansing and destruction of Gaza and displacement of its residents to third countries.
\nThe UK has sanctioned two Israeli far-right ministers over comments they made on Gaza.
\nItamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will both face a travel ban and have their assets frozen as part of the measures announced by the UK foreign secretary.
\nDavid Lammy said the ministers had \u201cincited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights\u201d.
\nIn response, Israel said: \u201cIt is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kind of measures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Britain and other international allies formally sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, following their conduct over the war in Gaza, The Times has reported. London will join Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on Israel\u2019s national security minister Ben-Gvir, an occupied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-483443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n