Campaign group says sanctions on settlers not enough, Israel government must be targeted

On June 9, 2026, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and Norway announced coordinated sanctions targeting the network of settler violence, including its funding and execution. The UK sanctioned six organizations and one individual, while France barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, three settler group leaders, and 21 settlers from entry.

However, human rights activists and Palestine campaigners argue these measures fall short. They contend that targeting individuals distracts from the lack of broader institutional sanctions against the Israeli government.

Jennifer Larbie, head of advocacy at Christian Aid UK, called the decision to sanction so few organizations "laughable" and a clear example of the UK government acting "too little, too late" while Palestinians are forcibly displaced from their land.

Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli government is the entity that plans, funds, and enforces settlement expansion. "Western governments are trying to cover up their shortcomings with low-value measures," he said, arguing that the sanctions reflect a need to contain public anger rather than a genuine policy shift.

Israel has violated the Oslo Accords, which called for a freeze on settlements. In the early 1990s, about 250,000 settlers lived in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now, the settler population has grown to over 700,000, while around three million Palestinians live in the same area.

Despite international legal obligations and an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024 stating that states have a duty not to recognize or assist Israel's illegal occupation, the European Union (EU) has largely failed to enforce a comprehensive ban on trade with settlement entities.

Critics point out that by focusing on individual settlement outposts or far-right figures, Western countries risk creating a false distinction between "extremist" settlers and the Israeli state apparatus.

Kristyan Benedict, crisis response manager for Amnesty International UK, said targeting the settlement funding network while ignoring the ministers who run the settlement campaign is not meaningful accountability. "It leaves the architects untouched," he said, calling on the UK to sanction Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and other senior officials.

Mohanad Mustafa, a scholar of Israeli affairs, noted that figures like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir do not travel frequently to Europe and rely mainly on political and financial ties with the US. "These sanctions do not target the Israeli government," Mustafa told Al Jazeera Arabic, explaining that they inadvertently create a comfortable narrative for Israel by portraying extremism as isolated to specific ministers rather than as a state-sponsored enterprise.

For its part, Israel quickly rejected the sanctions. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein called them "shameful measures" and an attempt to impose a political view on "the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel."

Campaigners point out that Western countries continue to sell weapons and trade freely with Israel. The UK recently updated its business guidance to advise against economic activity in illegal settlements but emphasized it still supports trade with Israel within its 1967 borders. Larbie called it "pathetic" to merely "advise" British businesses without real consequences.

Former UK MP Claudia Webbe highlighted the contradiction: "What's the use of imposing sanctions on five settlement organizations? They must impose sanctions on the entire state, not the settlements."

While the UK under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has paused free trade talks with Israel and suspended some arms export licenses, critics demand a complete halt. Despite suspending about 30 of 350 arms export licenses in late 2024, the UK continues to sell components for F-35 fighter jets and other key military equipment to Israel.

Spain and Ireland have emerged as some of the few European countries taking concrete diplomatic action. Both officially recognized the State of Palestine, joined South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, and suspended all new arms export licenses to the Israeli military.