UK, allies slap sanctions over violence by Israeli settlers

LONDON: Britain, Canada, France and Norway announced coordinated sanctions on Tuesday against Israeli networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out violence in Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The move follows escalating violence by Israeli settlers, which diplomats say is intended to undermine prospects for a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, a UN inquiry said on Tuesday that Israeli forces shield settlers during attacks on Palestinians in occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians, while Israeli forces provide protection to settlers, the inquiry said.

The report by the Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli authorities had enabled settler attacks through financial and military support, in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies.

UN commission finds Israeli troops protecting settlers during attacks on Palestinians

A previous report by the commission found that Israel had committed genocide during its military offensive in Gaza, and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited these acts.

Anger towards Netanyahu

The measures by the four countries, Britain, France, Canada and Norway, were coordinated with sanctions already announced last week by Australia and New Zealand, underscoring anger in many Western countries towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has expanded settlements.

A joint statement by foreign ministers from the four countries, as well as Australia, said the steps aimed to “hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”.

“We continue to urge the government of Israel to take action to ensure meaningful accountability for violence in the (occupied) West Bank,” the statement added.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the measures, and said the governments imposing them had failed to control antisemitism and were fuelling it with such sanctions.

Israel’s government has acknowledged that settler violence occurs and has at times condemned it, while also opposing foreign sanctions on Israelis and entities in connection with occupied West Bank, where it says Jews have a right to live.

Sanctions hit Israeli minister

Tuesday’s sanctions did not all target the same individuals and companies.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the government had banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organisations and 21 violent settlers from entering France.

Britain said its package was aimed at disrupting the flows of finance that have “allowed extremist settler groups to act with impunity” in Israeli-occupied West Bank. It also included a construction company whose resources it said had been used to destroy Palestinian property.

Canada’s sanctions included a different construction firm and its owners, and prohibited Canadians from dealing with all those designated.

The joint statement threatened further action if the Israeli government did not take “urgent steps to address the situation”.

One concern is Israel’s plan to build a settlement east of Jerusalem, known as the E1 project, which would bisect the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, fragmenting territory Palestinians seek for an independent state.

Israeli forces shield settlers

The UN report said Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land had surged since 2023, rising by 130 per cent, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants.

Israeli forces routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, it added.

The Israeli army said it condemns “any form of violence that undermines security”, and that any alleged misconduct by Israeli soldiers was thoroughly reviewed. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups say such investigations rarely lead to punishment.

Near-daily attacks

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians on land Israel captured in the 1967 war. Most countries consider such settlements a violation of international law, a position upheld in a 2024 ruling by the UN’s top court.

The increasing participation of Israeli forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers, the report found. It said such violence has been used to advance state policy, including the unlawful occupation, displacement of Palestinians and the annexation of Palestinian territory.

The commission documented cases of assaults, abductions and abuse of Palestinian children by settlers. In one incident on April 19 last year, a 12-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother were abducted at knifepoint, dragged to an olive grove and tied to a tree with plastic restraints until their family intervened. The UN report said settlers committed or threatened sexual violence to instill fear, and harassed Palestinian women.

The relentless, daily assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are intolerable and must end, said the commission’s head, S. Muralidhar, an Indian former senior judge. Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the report “reflects the extent of violence perpetrated by settlers against our people”.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2026