Why Sanctioning Only Netanyahu's Far-right Ministers Lets Israel Off the Hook - Israel News - Haaretz.com
If the steps being taken internationally against Israel continue at the current pace, it would not be an exaggeration to believe that the media-saturated visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the United States – his first ever abroad – will also be his last, certainly to any Western country.
Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister and minister in the Defense Ministry who visited Britain in 2022 as an opposition Knesset member, won't be setting foot there anymore. Indeed, it's quite possible that soon Continental Europe, which Israeli ministers rarely visit now, will also be officially off limits to them.
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Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in Tel Aviv earlier in June.Credit: Itai Ron
The move to impose personal sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich was led by Britain but was joined by three other important Commonwealth countries – Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Another equally important country to join is Norway, the only Scandinavian country that is not a member of the European Union and is therefore exempt from the EU's complicated decision-making process.
Neighboring Sweden is meanwhile openly lobbying inside the EU for similar measures against Israeli ministers. In an op-ed published about two weeks ago, four Swedish ministers, led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, declared that Sweden "will push to introduce sanctions against extremist ministers who promote illegal settlement policies and actively counteract a future two-state solution." They said they would also support examining Israel's compliance with the terms of the association agreement with the EU.
Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, hinted that after the organization decides to review the association agreement, increasing the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza would likely influence the EU's final decision on the matter. However, another senior official, António Costa, president of the European Council, signaled that the train had already left the station. "Watching your televisions and reading your newspapers, I think it's not difficult to anticipate what is the conclusion that they obtain," he told the Politico website.
Israel, as usual, was quick to condemn the actions and claimed that "the conclusions of the review were written in advance." In a certain sense, they were indeed written in advance and will continue to be. International law prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations, starvation and forced displacement. News reports, investigations, images and data show unequivocally that Israel is doing all of this in Gaza. The association agreement requires Israel to comply with international law and protect human rights.
In any event, from the EU's point of view, and that of other Western countries, the public remarks by Israeli ministers and the security cabinet provide even more unequivocal evidence of Israeli violation of human rights and its failure to abide by international law.
Furthermore, statements, as opposed to actions, give Western diplomacy greater room for maneuver. It is no coincidence that, in their decision on Tuesday, Britain and its partners focused on the incitement employed by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich rather than on their actions or decisions.
The EU's top foreign diplomat, Kaja Kallas, in Brussels on Wednesday.Credit: Nicolas Tucat/AFP
On the one hand, their public statement inciting violence doesn't require further proof. Thus, for example, is Smotrich's 2023 remark that the West Bank village of "Hawara needs to be wiped out" or more recent statements like "Bruqin and Kafr al-Dik [in the West Bank] should look like Shujaiyeh and Tel al-Sultan in the Gaza Strip." It's not difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a particular statement constitutes incitement, unlike the heavy burden of proof for committing a war crime or a crime against humanity. That is especially the case if it was allegedly committed in Gaza, which is inaccessible to journalists or international diplomats.
On the other hand, the focus on words and not on actions enables the West to have it both ways – to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers but to claim that they are only personal and do not involve their role as decision-makers. They send a message while ostensibly giving Israel another opportunity to mend its ways.
"Today's measures are targeted towards individuals who, in our view, undermine Israel's own security and its standing in the world," the foreign ministers of Australia, Britain, Norway, New Zealand and Canada said in their joint statement. "We continue to want a strong friendship with the people of Israel based on our shared ties, values and commitment to their security and future."
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the annual Flag Day march in Jerusalem in May.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
The same message was stated by the Swedish ministers: "Israel clearly has a right to exist and defend itself. But protests are growing even amongst the Israeli population over the nature of the war. Pressure needs to increase on the Israeli government, not least its extremist ministers."
The message from the West's leading democracies is clear – reaching out to civil society in Israel while distancing themselves, slowly and cautiously but with disgust, from the government for its poisonous language and criminal policies. Only the United States has chosen not to join the chorus – perhaps due to the shared values between the Trump administration and the current government, but more likely as part of the policy of "no preaching" Trump recently articulated, which amounts to deliberate moral blindness.