Press comment: PSC says sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers are long-overdue but remain inadequate 

Responding to the news that Britain will impose sanctions on Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, Palestine Solidarity Campaign Director Ben Jamal said: 

“These sanctions against two far-right Israeli ministers are a long-overdue acceptance by the British government that Israel is committing grave crimes against the Palestinian people but completely inadequate to end Britain’s complicity in those crimes or bring a halt to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.  

Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Its head of government, Benjamin Netanyahu, is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The entire Israeli government, including its military, is responsible for continuing atrocities and deliberately starving more than 2 million Palestinian people, and is doing so with the material support of ongoing shipments of weapons from Britain.   

We need a full arms embargo now, and sanctions on the Israeli state, not just blocks on two ministers’ bank accounts.” 

Notes for editors:  

An Opinium poll commissioned by PSC reveals huge British public support for arms embargo on Israel by the UK government alongside other sanctions. 

• The British public support a full arms embargo on Israel by more than 4 to 1, including 72% of those who voted Labour in 2024.