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Sanctions on settlers not enough: Target Israeli gov’t, say campaigners

Sanctions on settlers not enough: Target Israeli gov’t, say campaigners

Israeli settlers and far-right ministers have been slapped with new Western sanctions. But human rights groups and Palestinian campaigners say the measures fail to address systemic state complicity in the occupation of Palestinian territories. While the latest actions have been framed as a decisive stand against settler violence, political analysts and legal experts argue that isolating individual actors serves to deflect from the lack of broader institutional penalties against the Israeli government itself. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list On June 9, 2026, the United Kingdom, alongside Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and Norway, announced coordinated sanctions against networks financing and executing settler violence. The UK targeted six entities and one individual, while France banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, three settler group leaders, and 21 settlers from entering the country. Smotrich and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have been censored by several European countries previously for their rhetoric against Palestinians and support for settler violence. ‘Too little, too late’ Critics point out that the limited scope of the sanctions does not match the scale of the crisis. Jennifer Larbie, Christian Aid’s head of UK influencing, described the decision to sanction so few entities as “derisory” and a clear example of the UK government doing “too little too late” while Palestinians are forced from their land. This sentiment was echoed by Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative. He told Al Jazeera Arabic that Western leaders are facing unprecedented public backlash for their ties to Israel. Advertisement “These governments are trying to cover up their shortcomings with low-value measures,” Barghouti said, arguing that the sanctions reflect a need to manage public anger rather than a genuine shift in state policy. He stressed that the Israeli government itself is the entity that plans, funds, and executes settlement expansion. Israel has undermined the Oslo Accords, which called for the freezing of settlements. At the time of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s, some 250,000 settlers lived in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlement population has now grown to more than 700,000, while some three million Palestinians live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Despite international legal obligations – and a July 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion explicitly stating that all states are under an obligation not to recognise or assist Israel’s illegal occupation – the European Union has largely failed to implement a blanket ban on trade with settlement-based entities. While EU guidelines state that agreements with Israel do not apply to the occupied territories, member states have routinely stopped short of imposing binding economic embargoes, allowing goods produced on stolen Palestinian land to continually enter European markets. Products such as Medjool dates, avocados, wines and cosmetics, among others produced in the occupied West Bank settlements, are exported to Europe. Shielding the architects By focusing on individual settler outposts or far-right figures like Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, Western states risk creating a false distinction between “extremist” settlers and the Israeli state apparatus. Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager, stated that targeting settler financing networks while ignoring the ministers who are running settler campaigns is not meaningful accountability. “It leaves the architects untouched,” Benedict said, calling on the UK to sanction Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and other senior officials. Netanyahu and Gallant face International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants for war crimes. An inquiry by the United Nations has previously found that Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured, and displaced Palestinians, with Israeli forces actively providing protection. Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have long track records of inciting violence and expanding the occupation. Following a deadly settler rampage in the Palestinian town of Huwara in early 2023, Smotrich notoriously declared that the village should be “wiped out” by the Israeli state. Advertisement Furthermore, Smotrich has used his dual role in the Defence Ministry to quietly transfer administrative powers over the West Bank from the military to civilian control, a move legal experts describe as de facto annexation. Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir has personally distributed thousands of assault rifles to settler “national guard” members, and has frequently praised settlers accused of murdering Palestinians, portraying them as heroes defending Israel. Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and expert on Israeli affairs, noted that figures like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir do not regularly travel to Europe and rely primarily on political and financial ties with the United States. “These sanctions do not target the Israeli government,” Mustafa told Al Jazeera Arabic, explaining that the measures inadvertently create a comfortable narrative for Israel by portraying the extremism as isolated to specific ministers rather than a state-sponsored enterprise. For its part, Israel swiftly rejected the sanctions. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Oren Marmorstein called them “disgraceful measures” and an attempt to impose a political stance regarding the “right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel”. Under international law, Israel’s settlements built on Palestinian lands are illegal. A UN resolution in September 2024 called for an end to the occupation within a year, but Israel has failed to comply. In fact, it has doubled down and announced more settlements. Israel routinely denies that its troops protect violent settlers, claiming such acts are rogue incidents that violate military protocol. But numerous reports by media and rights groups show Israeli forces’ complicity in attacks on Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians have been jailed without trial, and Palestinians have recounted horrific abuse inside Israeli custody. The arms and trade loophole Campaigners point out that Western countries’ actions come as they continue to sell arms and engage in free trade with Israel, which faces a case of genocide at the ICJ. Most rights organisations and genocide scholars have said that Israeli actions in Gaza do constitute genocide. The UK government recently updated its business guidance to explicitly advise against economic activity in illegal settlements, but it stressed that it continues to support trade with Israel within its 1967 borders. Larbie called

US diplomat found dead in Myanmar, Thai woman in custody

US diplomat found dead in Myanmar, Thai woman in custody

The US Department of State confirms the fatality, but refuses to provide more information about the person’s death in Yangon. Published On 10 Jun 202610 Jun 2026 A United States diplomat has been found dead in Myanmar’s largest city, according to the US Department of State, and three members of the diplomatic community in Yangon say a Thai woman has been detained by police in connection with the investigation. The US State Department confirmed to the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that a US diplomat serving at the US Embassy in Yangon had died. The department did not provide further details about the circumstances surrounding the person’s death or its cause. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “Out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones, we have no further information to provide at this time,” it said. According to three people in the diplomatic community in Myanmar, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the case, Myanmar police are treating the death as a possible murder. They said the person was found dead two weeks ago at a hotel about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the US Embassy. The facility, with long-term rentals, is popular with diplomats, business people and other international visitors. Myanmar police have not publicly commented on the case. Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said it has provided consular assistance to the woman in custody and notified her family, but would not comment further. Situation in Myanmar Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war that began more than five years ago when the country’s democratically elected government was overthrown in a military coup. The military leadership that now governs Myanmar is estimated to control just 21 percent of the country after years of fighting against ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy forces. Advertisement More than 96,000 people have been killed, according to the international monitor the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). At least 3.6 million have been displaced, according to the United Nations. In April, former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest after President Min Aung Hlaing pardoned and commuted the sentences of thousands of prisoners. Suu Kyi, age 80, still has 13 years of detention remaining. Adblock test (Why?)

Bill Gates appears before Congress to testify over Epstein files

Bill Gates appears before Congress to testify over Epstein files

NewsFeed Microsoft founder Bill Gates appeared before Congress to voluntarily testify in a congressional probe into the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Gates said he hoped his testimony would support efforts to secure justice for victims. Published On 10 Jun 202610 Jun 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)