US urges UK to flip-flop on Israeli sanctions

As if Britain’s Labour government didn’t have enough on its plate with the UK’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spending review announced at midday, it is also facing pressure from the US over sanctions imposed on two Israeli cabinet ministers. Yesterday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the travel ban and asset freezes imposed on security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich “do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home and end the war.”

Rubio hasn’t just taken aim at the UK – President Donald Trump’s man has also urged Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway to row back on their sanctions, while Israel has slammed yesterday’s sanctions as “outrageous.” The move by the UK and allied countries came after remarks made by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were deemed to have “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights” by Foreign Secretary David Lammy. While the UK government has been warning for some time that it was preparing to penalize the Israeli ministers – halting trade talks with Israel last month – the move is a clear split from Washington’s stance, after Trump lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers.

Defending Labour’s move, UK foreign office minister Hamish Falconer noted:

Mr. Smotrich said there is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. Mr. Ben-Gvir has spoken of his rights in the West Bank, a territory his government is occupying, as being more important than the rights of millions of Palestinians. Their own words condemn them. To defend those Palestinians rights, to protect the two state solution, to see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in safety and security, this government is taking action.

But could pressure from Trump force Starmer’s lot to change course? Stay tuned…