Six countries are imposing coordinated sanctions on networks that they say have financed and supported violence carried out against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, Britain’s foreign office said on Tuesday.
Britain said it was joining Canada, France and Norway in imposing new sanctions on six entities and one individual “involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence.” Australia and New Zealand announced related sanctions last week.
Together, Britain’s foreign office said, the measures will “disrupt the flows of finance that have allowed extremist settler groups to act with impunity in the West Bank.”
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the sanctions on Tuesday as “disgraceful measures.”
All six countries were once steadfast allies of Israel, but they have been increasingly critical of its policies toward Palestinians since the war in Gaza began.
Violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank have intensified since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that set off the war in Gaza. Analysts say one of the objectives of the West Bank violence is to shrink the territory inhabited by Palestinians and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Norway have all recognized Palestinian statehood.
Britain’s foreign office cited the E1 settlement project, a plan for thousands of housing units to be built on a strategic patch of land just east of Jerusalem, as an example of settlements in the West Bank that are illegal under international law and undermine efforts to secure peace. Israel’s government, which has long disputed that reading of international law, last year approved the E1 project.
The new sanctions will target a range of organizations that provide support for Israeli settler farms and outposts, as well as groups that raise funds for settlers, Britain’s foreign office said. The sanctions also target a construction company, Eyal Hari Yehuda, and its owner, Itamar Yehuda Levi, accusing them of involvement in attacks on Palestinians.
In 2024, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the United States blocked transactions with Mr. Levi over violence in the West Bank. In 2025, President Trump signed an executive order revoking the sanctions.
In addition to the sanctions imposed by the other countries, France banned Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, from entering the country. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that decision, citing Mr. Smotrich’s calls for Israel to annex the West Bank.
Last year, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway jointly imposed sanctions on Mr. Smotrich, restricting his right to travel and freezing his financial assets. Those sanctions also targeted Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister.
