On June 10, five countries – the UK, Canada, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand – announced sanctions on two rabble-rousing Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The move was in response to their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied territories.

Their joint statement noted that “Settler violence is incited by extremist rhetoric which calls for Palestinians to be driven from their homes, encourages violence and human rights abuses... Settler violence has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole communities.”

However, these sanctions appear to be motivated not by the thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths—many of them women and children—or the genocidal intent behind Israeli policies, but by concerns about the Zionist regime’s deteriorating global image. 

The statement reads, “Today’s measures are targeted towards individuals who in our view undermine Israel’s own security and its standing in the world.”

While some may welcome this as a step in the right direction, a closer analysis suggests it is merely a political gesture aimed at placating growing public outrage. It sidesteps the deeper, systemic issues at play.

Not aberrations

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are not aberrations; they are simply the most vocal and unapologetic faces of a broader ideology that has guided Israeli policy for decades.

Just a few months into his dual role as Israel’s finance minister and as the defence ministry official overseeing settlements in early 2023, Smotrich revived his “decisive plan” aimed at resolving what he termed the “Palestinian demographic threat” to the Zionist project of Greater Israel.

Smotrich, undeterred by international norms or public condemnation, proudly repeated his plan in every speech and public appearance. It presented Palestinians with three brutal options: apartheid, forced expulsion or emigration, or death. 

In his government capacity, Smotrich began implementing an aggressive settlement expansion strategy aimed at reaching one million illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank—up from the current 750,000—within a few years.

His strategy was clear: “Facts on the ground deflate aspirations and defeat ambitions,” he declared. “Nothing would have a greater and deeper effect on the consciousness of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank]... than demonstrating the impossibility of establishing another Arab state west of the [River] Jordan.”

In March 2023, during a trip to France, Smotrich openly denied the existence of the Palestinian people, echoing rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi ideology. 

“There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language,” he proclaimed. Behind him stood a lectern adorned with a map of “Greater Israel,” encompassing not just the occupied West Bank and Gaza but also Jordan.

Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir, appointed as minister of national security, oversaw the arming of thousands of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to escalate violence and further oppress Palestinians. 

He led repeated provocative incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, openly calling for the construction of the Third Temple on its ruins.

Ben-Gvir also implemented draconian measures against Palestinian prisoners—curbing family visits, restricting food, blocking education, and limiting communal prayers—undoing decades of hard-fought rights by detainees within the Israeli prison system.

On a visit to the occupied West Bank in 2023, Ben-Gvir infamously asserted that his right, and that of his family, to freely move through the territory was more important than freedom of movement for Palestinians. 

“My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs.”

Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir were handpicked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form what is widely recognised as the most far-right government in Israeli history. These men are not only Netanyahu’s coalition partners; they are his ideological allies, at times even further to the right than him. Their views and plans were already well known and actively promoted before the events of October 7, 2023.

Since then, the Israeli government’s rhetoric and actions have only intensified. Amichai Eliyahu, minister of heritage and a member of Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, even called for Gaza to be destroyed with a nuclear bomb. 

Although that catastrophic option was not used, the Israeli regime embarked on a genocidal campaign that destroyed Gaza’s civilian life, which has exceeded 20 months. It has also imposed a total blockade on Gaza for over three months, cutting off food, water, medicine, fuel, and other essentials—an act widely condemned as collective punishment.

Throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have vocally supported its continuation, calling for Gaza’s continuous destruction and elimination of its people and infrastructure, the forced expulsion of its population, and eventual resettlement and occupation by Israelis.

Why targeting individuals misses the bigger picture

Such blatant calls for ethnic cleansing and war crimes present an increasing challenge for Western governments that have uncritically supported the Zionist regime, even in the face of a genocidal campaign that has continued for over 600 days. 

Worldwide, millions have taken to the streets in major cities to denounce what they see as genocide, carried out with the knowledge and complicity of their own governments.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already found a plausible case of genocide in Gaza, while the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges over six months ago.

As the Zionist regime has become the most despised country in the world and is facing unprecedented global condemnation, even its staunchest allies in the West are finding it increasingly difficult to justify continued support. While most governments still seek to shield the Israeli regime from accountability, public pressure is mounting.

If these five governments were truly concerned about ending genocide, preventing starvation, or upholding international law and human rights, then the entire Israeli cabinet—or indeed the Zionist state itself—would be under stringent sanctions until its apartheid structures were dismantled.

Unfortunately, these governments, unlike the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, continue to ignore the root causes of this ongoing crisis. 

Tutu, after visiting the occupied Palestinian territories, stated: “I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid.”