France Bans Bezalel Smotrich as UK, Canada, Norway, Australia Sanction Settler Violence Networks

France banned Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country as six countries imposed coordinated sanctions over Israeli settler violence in the West Bank on Tuesday.

“The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Norway have imposed coordinated sanctions targeting networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank”

Al Jazeera

The sanctions package, announced by France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway and Australia in a joint statement, included “a range of travel bans and asset freezes aimed at disrupting flows of finance to extremist settler groups.”

Al Jazeera

In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the measures as “the disgraceful measures adopted by foreign governments against Israeli citizens, entities, and a government minister,” accusing the other countries of imposing a political stance “camouflaged as measures against violence.”

The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the measures were meant to “hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians,” and Al Jazeera said the coordinated sanctions targeted networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Al Jazeera report also said the six countries warned they were prepared to take further measures if the Israeli government failed to adequately address the situation on the ground.

Alongside travel bans, the United Kingdom urged British businesses and citizens to refrain from conducting financial activities in Israeli settlements in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper telling Parliament, “if you are a British citizen or business, you should not conduct any economic and financial activities in illegal Israeli settlements.”

Cooper also said, “We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians,” while Al Jazeera reported that the UK government repeated its call on Israel to end settlement expansion, clamp down on settler violence, prosecute those responsible, and lift restrictions on the functioning of the Palestinian economy.

Al-Jazeera Net

Amnesty International’s Kristyan Benedict said the sanctions were “a step, but they are not enough,” adding that “Targeting settler financing networks while the ministers who run this campaign face no consequences is not meaningful accountability.”

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein denounced the sanctions shortly after they were announced, saying, “The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel.”

Euronews described the French move as part of a wider effort by Western countries to increase pressure on Israel over settlement expansion and settler violence, while France’s Barrot accused Smotrich of promoting policies that undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

The sanctions were framed as a response to “record illegal settlement expansion and rising violence by settlers in the West Bank,” with the Boston Herald describing the Tuesday announcement as escalating pressure on Israel over a wave of violence against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

“By SAM McNEIL and SYLVIE CORBET PARIS (AP) — A coalition of six countries on Tuesday issued new joint sanctions on Israeli settlers and settlements in the West Bank, including a hard-line Israeli cabinet minister already sanctioned by Western countries, escalating pressure on Israel over a wave of violence against Palestinians in the occupied territory”

Boston Herald

The Boston Herald said the coalition’s top diplomats warned that “settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the government of Israel,” while the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the United Nations recorded over 1,800 settler attacks against Palestinians in 2025.

The same JTA report said violence has remained intense this year and that Israel’s military recorded a sharp increase in nationalist and settler violence in 2025, as the coordinated sanctions aimed to disrupt finance flows to extremist settler groups.

In the background of the diplomatic moves, the Le Monde report said France also banned four leaders of settler organizations and 21 violent settlers, and it noted that France’s prosecutors opened an investigation into possible “war crimes” and “torture” over Israel’s treatment of French activists who took part in the flotilla.

Le Monde also tied the sanctions to the two-state solution, quoting Barrot that “This is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept,” while France 24 said the sanctions targeted “those responsible for the escalation of settlement activity and violence in the West Bank.”