Smotrich slams report of possible US sanctions against himself, Ben Gvir
Finance minister says he’s ‘ready to pay any price’ to prevent Palestinian state, argues potential measure ‘constitutes a mortal blow to Israeli sovereignty and relations’
Itamar Ben-Gvir (left) and Bezalel Smotrich
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday slammed potential United States sanctions against both him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as politically motivated, calling any such move a “mortal blow to Israeli sovereignty” and US-Israel relations.
Responding to US officials’ comments that the White House has discussed sanctioning the far-right cabinet members, Smotrich said he was “no different than Reut Ben Haim or any other settler on whom draconian and undemocratic American sanctions have been imposed.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration issued its fifth batch of sanctions against Israeli extremists and illegal outposts, including Ben Haim, one of the leaders of Tzav 9, a group that has led attacks in Israel and the West Bank on humanitarian aid convoys en route to Gaza.
Over the weekend, US officials told The Times of Israel that the White House revisited the idea of sanctioning Smotrich and Ben Gvir during a recent meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in the West Bank.
The idea of designating one or both of the ministers has been raised several times since US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in February allowing the levying of sanctions to clamp down on those destabilizing the West Bank.
The US and several European nations have imposed sanctions on individual settlers accused of engaging in violence against Palestinians.
Smotrich previously pledged to “fight with all our might” and not “let up” until all Western sanctions against West Bank settlers are lifted.
The idea of sanctioning Smotrich and Ben Gvir resurfaced as extremist Israeli settlers have continued attacks on Palestinians with overwhelming impunity and Israeli authorities have continued taking steps to expand their footprint in the West Bank.
“This is an unfortunate decision that stems from the internal political needs of those who claim to lead the largest democracy in the world and operate with distinctly anti-democratic tools against a brave partner that is the only democracy in the Middle East,” Smotrich said in a lengthy statement on Sunday morning.
Boasting of his activities on behalf of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank and against a Palestinian state, Smotrich said he was proud of his efforts “to prevent the establishment of a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel, and I am ready to pay any price for that.”
Dismissing American and European sanctions as “a passing shadow,” he insisted that imposing sanctions on a democratically elected minister in the Israeli government “constitutes a mortal blow to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the [two] countries and this will have serious consequences in many areas.”
“I discussed this with the prime minister and the matters will be clarified in a way that is unambiguous,” he added.
Not wanting to legitimize many of the two ministers’ views toward the Palestinians, the Biden administration has already imposed an effective boycott of them.
As national security minister, Ben Gvir has directed police he oversees to take a lax approach toward settler violence, one US official said.
The Biden administration has been particularly frustrated over Smotrich’s reported efforts to block enforcement against illegal settlement construction and his withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.
As finance minister and minister in charge of settlement affairs in the Defense Ministry, Smotrich advanced a quid pro quo arrangement last month that saw Israel advance plans for roughly 5,000 settlement homes, legalize five wildcat outposts, sanction some Palestinian Authority leaders and expropriate large amounts of land in the West Bank.
It subsequently announced the recognition of three additional outposts, moves that Smotrich said would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would pose “an immediate existential danger to the State of Israel.”
Two weeks ago, Settlement and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, a member of Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, stated that she was delighted by the “miracle period” of settlement expansion ushered in by the current hard-right government.
Pledging to work toward “the application of de facto sovereignty” in the West Bank, Smotrich last week called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank should the International Court of Justice declare Israeli settlements illegal.
After the International Court of Justice declared in a non-binding ruling Friday that Israel’s 56-year long rule in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” is “illegal,” Smotrich and Ben Gvir both issued statements calling for annexing large parts of the territory.
In its decision, the ICJ said it determined that Israel’s policy of settlement in the West Bank violates international law, and that Israel had effectively annexed large parts of the West Bank — along with East Jerusalem, which was formally annexed and designated as sovereign Israeli territory in 1980 — due to some of the apparently permanent aspects of Israeli rule there.
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