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SvennoJ on 11 June 2025
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Australian PM defends sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom have announced sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The ministers openly support illegal settlements and the expulsion of Palestinians from their territory. Israel denounced the sanctions as “outrageous”, while the US also condemned the move.

Despite the backlash, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the move, calling the reactions from Israel and the US “predictable”.

“The Israeli government does need to uphold its obligations under international law, and some of the expansionist rhetoric that we’ve seen as well is clearly in contradiction of that from these hardline right-wing members of the Netanyahu government,” Albanese said in an interview with ABC Radio Sydney.

“We, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security,” he said in a TV interview with Seven.

UK MPs detect sinister deal with US in sanctions against Netanyahu’s colleagues


The UK government on Tuesday announced in the parliament about sanctioning two ministerial colleagues of Benjamin Netanyahu. They are Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

However, the timing of the announcement, just before a global conference to recognise the State Of Palestine left many MPs baffled as they asked if the Keir Starmer government had struck a secret deal with the Trump administration. They suspected that, as part of the deal, the UK government may have pledged to give up the recognition of a Palestinian statehood plan.

The minister, Hamish Falconer, had no convincing answer.


Germany’s second-largest opposition party calls for sanctions on Smotrich, Ben-Gvir

Franziska Brantner, the head of Germany’s Green Party, has called for Berlin to join other countries in sanctioning Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir for inciting violence against Palestinians and open support of illegal settlements and the expulsion of Palestinians from their territory.

Brantner, who co-leads Germany’s second-largest opposition party, accused the two ministers of “openly calling for violence against the Palestinian population and long having propagated a policy of annexation and displacement”.

“This costs human lives, displaces entire communities and poses enormous hurdles on the path to a peace process,” Brantner told the DPA news agency.


US House Speaker to travel to Jerusalem later this month, will address Israeli Knesset

Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, plans to travel to Jerusalem and address the Israeli Knesset on June 22, according to the Reuters news agency.

In a statement cited by the agency, Johnson, a vocal supporter of Israel who has spoken highly of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said ties between the US and Israel “run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements”.

Yeah nothing like buddying up to starve and kill children. Disgusting.