Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed on Friday his government is considering imposing sanctions on “extremist Israeli settlers”.
“Settler violence in the West Bank is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau said while taking questions from reporters in Waterloo, Ontario, according to CTV News.
“We are looking into how to make sure that those responsible for extremist violence, or extremist settler violence in the West Bank, are held to account for it,” he added, affirming, “We are looking at sanctions on extremist settlers.”
Trudeau’s comments come a day after US President Joe Biden signed an executive order imposing sanctions on four Israelis over “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria.
The State Department named the four individuals who will be subject to the sanctions: David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi.
Prior to the announcement, there were reports that the Biden administration considered including ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the list of people to be sanctioned, but eventually decided to leave them out and focus at this stage on people who perpetrated attacks.
In December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a visa ban on "extremist settlers" who are accused of attacking Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
A day after Blinken’s announcement, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced that “extremist settlers” will be banned from entering Belgium.
“Violence against civilians will have consequences. Extremist settlers in the West Bank will be banned from entering Belgium,” he wrote on X.
“We will work with the US on sanctions targeting individuals involved in actions that undermine peace, security, and stability in the West Bank,” added De Croo.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)