Warning – new Western sanctions against settlement activists due to Smotrich’s West Bank policies

Tzav 9 activists seeking to block access to the Gaza Strip by trucks carrying humanitarian assistance, April 2024

Amir Tibon reports in Haaretz on 16 July 2024:

In recent weeks, governments friendly toward Israel have repeatedly warned that steps that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been taking in the West Bank could increase the wave of international sanctions against prominent individuals and organizations in the settlement movement.

Smotrich’s actions include retroactive approval of unauthorized Jewish outposts and conferring authority on land and construction issues there to officials identified with his far-right Religious Zionism party.

Among the moves being considered is the broadening of sanctions beyond those imposed on right-wing extremists linked to acts of violence toward Palestinians – to also include other people and organizations linked to unauthorized West Bank outposts.

The subject was raised at the beginning of the week in meetings in Israel that the new British foreign secretary, David Lammy, held on his first visit to the country since taking office. Lammy met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz.

Britain’s new Labour Party government’s concerns about Smotrich’s policies in the West Bank were raised at all of the meetings, as was the possibility that Smotrich’s policies would lead Western governments to adopt new sanctions in response.  Britain’s previous Conservative government imposed sanctions against Israeli right-wing extremists, including Noam Federman, a settler leader in Hebron, and Elisha Yered, a former adviser to Knesset member Limor Son Har Melech. It accused them of involvement in violence against Palestinians. The Conservative government also imposed sanctions on so-called hilltop youth – radical and often violent settler youth from illegal outposts.

Israeli officials believe that the new Labour Party government in Britain will step up the sanctions and is taking seriously the warnings from Lammy, who is considered a relatively pro-Israel member of his party.

Senior diplomats from other countries that are considered close allies of Israel have presented similar assessments in talks with Israeli ministers and ambassadors, after in recent weeks, Smotrich boasted about the legalization of outposts and his expanded mandate as minister responsible for settlement issues at the Defense Ministry.  The actions that Smotrich has been advancing are seen in practice by the whole world as annexation of the West Bank, one Western diplomat told Haaretz.  He sent a message in a similar vein on behalf of his government.  Many countries suspect that Smotrich is exploiting the Gaza war and the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu is totally dependent on him to pass decisions that no pro-Israel foreign government in the world supports, the diplomat said.

On Monday, the European Union announced sanctions on extreme right-wing activists Bentzi Gopstein and Baruch Marzel, who are considered close to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as well as on Tzav 9, a group that obstructed the passage of aid trucks into Gaza – prompting American sanctions against the organization.

In June, the Canadian government imposed sanctions on Amana, one of the most important and influential organizations involved in settlement construction in the West Bank. The European Union is also considering sanctions against Regavim, which is involved in outpost construction in the West Bank.

Israeli government officials have expressed concern that the combination of Smotrich’s measures and the expected advisory ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legality of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank would result in a further wave of sanctions, which could be expanded to include organizations such as Amana and Regavim.

“The only hope is that if [Donald] Trump wins the election in the United States, some of the Biden administration sanctions would be cancelled in another half year,” a senior Israeli official told Haaretz. “But that wouldn’t prevent other countries from continuing to take a similar line.”

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