Slovenia declaring far-right Israeli ministers ‘persona non grata’
The Slovenian foreign minister says the country has adopted a motion to blacklist far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Tanja Fajon said the move aims to put “pressure on the Israeli government to improve the intolerable conditions in Gaza and end the suffering of civilians”.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich – members of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition – live in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and have been pushing to formally annex the area.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the ministers have called for Israel to ethnically cleanse the territory and cut off all aid to Palestinians. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have also threatened to quit the coalition if the war ends.
Slovenia’s measure will bar the ministers from entering the country in what authorities say is a first in the European Union.
The government also accused Ben-Gvir and Smotrich of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements”.
More than 80 MPs call on British government to sanction Israel
At least 84 parliamentarians across nine political parties have called on the British government to impose widespread sanctions on Israel over its repeated violations of international law.
A letter addressed to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the MPs and Lords have called on the government to suspend the UK-Israel trade agreement until Israel complies with international law, ban all trade with illegal Israeli settlements, impose sanctions on those complicit in the war in Gaza, and end all arms transfers to Israel.
The letter comes in the run-up to the first anniversary of a landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was “unlawful” and must end “as rapidly as possible.”
Labour Party MP Richard Burgon, who co-organised the letter, said, “Israel is committing war crime after war crime.”
“We don’t need more empty words from the government calling on Israel to do the right thing. We need tough action to force Israel to end its atrocities against the Palestinian people,” he added.
