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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday that the British government is considering imposing sanctions on Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Sanctions are being considered due to their positions regarding the war in Gaza and violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
During PMQs, MPs are free to ask the Prime Minister about the functioning of government, in this case Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, asked Starmer, “Will the Prime Minister sanction Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich?”
“We are now looking into that [sanctions]because they are abhorrent comments,” Starmer answered.
Davey was citing Smotrich’s comments that the starvation of Gazan civilians “could be justified and moral” and Ben-Gvir calling “settlers who killed a 19-year-old in the West Bank heroes.”
Davey remarked that he had called on the previous Sunak government to sanction both ministers but that the government had refused.
He then said that, however, in recent days, they had learned that former Foreign Minister Lord David Cameron had been planning to sanction both ministers.
Starmer emphasized that increasing settler violence in the West Bank and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza meant that Israel must take all possible steps to prevent civilian casualties.
Starmer also confirmed that the UK, along with France, would convene an urgent UN Security Council meeting to address these issues.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich respond
Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich responded quickly, attacking Starmer for behaving as if Israel were still a British colony.
“Just as before the establishment of the Jewish state, the British worked to thwart it; now they continue to do so after its establishment in the midst of an existential war. The sea is the same sea, and the British are the British,” Ben-Gvir.
“The British must realize that the days of the mandate are over. In any case, they do not scare me. I will continue to act in accordance with the supreme national interests of the State of Israel only and for the sake of the country’s residents, our soldiers, our policemen, and our prison guards. Contempt for the White Paper!”
Ben-Gvir ended his statement with a reference to a historical anti-British phrase used during the mandate.
Smotrich responded similarly, “The British mandate ended, and with it, the White Paper, but the one-sidedness and hypocrisy remained the same one-sidedness and hypocrisy.”
“I will continue to do everything in my power to promote a policy of eliminating Nazi terrorism from Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran and to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel and the security of the Jewish people.”
“No threat will prevent me from doing the right and moral thing for the citizens of Israel, and if the British want to turn up their noses at my Zionist policy, then they will have a crooked nose.”