France has barred far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country as the UK, Australia, Canada, France and Norway jointly imposed sanctions on what they called “networks” financing and enabling attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. The move is designed to “hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence”, the five countries said in a joint statement.
Israel rejected the “disgraceful measures”, calling them political acts “camouflaged as measures against violence”. Smotrich has wide authority over government policies on settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
“UK and allies sanction networks enabling West Bank settler violence; France bars far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich.”
The UN documented 1,835 attacks by settlers against Palestinians in 2025 that resulted in casualties or property damage, across around 280 communities. At least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured – both figures representing 130% increases compared to the previous year. Since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, there has been a surge in settler attacks, and settlement expansion has risen sharply since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition. Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war; 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
In the UK, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs the government was imposing sanctions on six entities and one individual accused of being “involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the occupied West Bank”. They will face asset freezes and travel bans. However, Cooper disappointed more than 130 Labour MPs, including all the party’s select committee chairs, who had called for a complete ban on trade with the settlements. Instead, she issued updated guidance advising British firms not to engage in economic activity with illegal settlements, but stopped short of an enforceable ban, saying it was difficult to construct in practice. Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, told Cooper “the truth is that British firms are bankrolling annexations one settlement at a time”, adding she feared the government was “in danger of doing too little too late”.
The new guidance explicitly advises businesses to avoid economic and financial activities in Israeli settlements, warning of reputational damage and disputed titles to land and resources, but imposes no penalty for noncompliance. The government also did not harden existing advice on labelling products produced in illegal settlements. Since 2005, such products have not been entitled to preferential tariff treatment upon entry to the UK. The joint statement from the five foreign ministers noted that “for too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel”. It added: “We continue to urge the Government of Israel to take action to ensure meaningful accountability for violence in the West Bank.”