LONDON — The U.K. planned to slap sanctions on Israeli ministers with “extreme” views in the dying days of the last Conservative government, David Cameron disclosed Tuesday.
The former foreign secretary said his department had been working up sanctions against two far-right government ministers — Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — before Cameron’s boss Rishi Sunak called a snap U.K. general election.
“When you look at what they say: they have said things like encouraging people to stop aid convoys getting into Gaza,” Cameron told the BBC Tuesday. “They’ve encouraged extreme settlers in the West Bank with the appalling things they’ve been carrying out.”
Smotrich has called for an increase in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Ben-Gvir heads up the nationalist Otzma Yehudit party. He sparked anger over the summer by leading Jewish Israelis to prayer at Jerusalem’s most contested holy site, and has backed Israeli protests against aid convoys reaching Gaza.
But Cameron argued imposing targeted sanctions on specific ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government would be a more effective way to put pressure on the administration over its conduct in Gaza than suspending some arms exports, as Cameron’s Labour successor David Lammy has done.
The ex-U.K. foreign secretary characterized his approach as: “Saying to Netanyahu, yes, we support your right to self defense. No, we’re not going to end the sale of arms. But actually, when ministers in your government who are extremists and behave in this way, we’re prepared to use our sanctions regime to say, this simply isn’t good enough and has to stop.”
Cameron — who served as Britain’s prime minister from 2010-16 —said the sanctions didn’t go ahead because of the U.K. election campaign. “I couldn’t do them during the election period because I think it was too much of a political act was the advice I received,” he said.
As foreign secretary, Cameron insisted Britain’s support for Israel was not “unconditional” and urged the state to abide by international humanitarian law. He also called on Israel to “think with head as well as heart” after it was attacked by Iran in April.
“You should never overemphasize the extent to which you can change the approach of another country. But on the other hand, you should try and maximize your influence where you can,” Cameron said.
The Foreign Office was approached for comment about whether Cameron’s proposals are still under consideration by the new Labour government.
