Australia joins US in sanctioning Israeli settlers in West Bank

CANBERRA – Australia imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israelis over settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, joining the US, Japan and others in targeting extremists in the territory.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the Magnitsky-style targeted financial penalties on July 25. The new measures will also apply to one entity – a youth group responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence, she said.

The individuals sanctioned have been involved in violent attacks, including “beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians, resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death”, Ms Wong said in a statement.

She called on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease ongoing settlement activity, saying it “only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution”.

Israel’s ruling coalition government

is the most right-wing in the nation’s history, and while global attention has been focused on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, settler violence in the West Bank has escalated. 

Last week, Israel’s Parliament passed a resolution expressing formal opposition to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, warning that it could serve as a base for terrorist groups. 

Australia’s sanctions follow Japan’s announcement that it would freeze assets owned by four Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on July 23 that violent acts by extremist settlers in the West Bank have risen since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct 7.

The moves come after

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order

in February empowering the State Department to penalise those who threaten peace and stability in the West Bank. 

Like many Western nations, Australia has faced growing community divisions over the past year as a result of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Under pressure from Australia’s Jewish community, the government appointed a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism in July.

In the same month, Ms Fatima Payman, a Muslim Australian senator in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s ruling Labor Party, quit to sit as an independent lawmaker over the government’s approach to Israel’s campaign on Gaza. BLOOMBERG