France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway announced today (Tuesday) that they are imposing sanctions on several Israeli individuals, among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
As part of the move, the countries announced that Smotrich would be banned from entering their territories. In addition to the finance minister, measures were also imposed against four leaders of settler organizations and 21 settlers whom the countries claim were involved in incidents of violence in Judea and Samaria.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot explained the decision, saying that the move was intended to address what he described as the intensification of settlement activity and violence in Judea and Samaria.
According to him: “Today we are imposing new sanctions on those responsible for worsening settlement expansion and violence in the West Bank. At the national level, we have banned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations, and twenty-one settlers involved in violence from entering our country."
Barrot criticized Smotrich’s policies and claimed that he is “actively promoting the annexation of the West Bank," the establishment of new communities in Judea and Samaria, and the renewal of Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
The French foreign minister further claimed that Smotrich is working to advance measures against the Palestinian Authority and that this policy contradicts the position of most of the international community, which supports a two-state solution.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar condemned the measures, calling them "disgraceful."
According to Sa'ar, "The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, camouflaged as measures against violence."
Sa'ar turned the attack on the countries imposing sanctions, accusing: "What these governments have in common is their resounding failure to combat the antisemitism that is rampant in their own countries. Anti-Israeli policies of the kind adopted today only serve to fuel that antisemitism."
"Astonishingly, these governments have also failed to impose sanctions or take action against the phenomena that truly drive violence - the Palestinian Authority’s salaries for terrorists (“pay-for-slay") policy and incitement," he added.