4 دول غربية تفرض عقوبات على وزيري الأمن والمالية الإسرائيليين

The governments of Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have announced sanctions against Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which include freezing any financial assets they have in the mentioned countries and banning them from entering their territories.

London attributed the decision to the brutal comments made by the ministers regarding the Gaza Strip, including their plans to flatten the area and use violence to seize new settlements in the West Bank.

The British Foreign Office announced today (Tuesday) that Britain decided to impose the sanctions in conjunction with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and the Israeli government reported that it had been informed of the four-party decision, allowing time for the ministers to withdraw any funds they have in the four countries before the sanctions take effect.

Smotrich had stated that he would continue to oppose attempts to bring food into Gaza. He announced last May that he would not allow a single grain of wheat to enter for the Palestinians. He added that Gaza would be completely destroyed, and the Palestinians would be relocated to a humanitarian area south of the Strip, from where they would be transferred in large numbers to a "third country."

The Guardian reported today that Smotrich said last year: "The potential death of two million Palestinians living in the besieged Strip may be justified."

Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office informed its staff that anyone who criticizes its policy towards Gaza should consider resigning. About 300 employees of the ministry sent a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressing their concern about the slow response of British diplomacy to the Israeli atrocities in Gaza. The BBC reported today that the letter addressed to Minister Lammy warned that Britain could be considered complicit with Israel as long as it continues to sell arms to the Hebrew state.