The British government sanctioned four Israeli entities and three people on Tuesday for what it said was alleged support for “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
According to London’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the decision was made after determining that the targeted groups and individuals “supported violence against Palestinians” in the region.
The Israelis will be subjected to “financial restrictions, travel bans and director disqualifications, and will follow 18 other individuals, entities, and companies already sanctioned relating to serious violence against communities in the West Bank,” the British government announced in a statement. (The United Kingdom, like many other countries around the world, refers to Judea and Samaria as “the West Bank.”)
The four sanctioned Israeli entities are the Nachala Settlement Movement, which works to develop communities across Judea and Samaria, as well as the Gaza Strip; and the Shiloh-area Libi Construction and Infrastructure Ltd. company, as well as the Neriya’s Farm and Coco’s Farm outposts, also in Samaria.
The measures include all “persons residing” at the farms, London said.
The Israeli citizens added to the sanction list were Nachala chairwoman Daniella Weiss; Libi Construction and Infrastructure Ltd. owner Harel (“Coco”) Libi; and Zohar Sabah, a rancher from central Samaria whose farming outpost has repeatedly been attacked by Palestinians.
Sabah was indicted by Israeli prosecutors some eight months ago over his alleged participation in an attack against Arabs in the Palestinian village of Muarrajat. He has yet to be convicted in a court of law.
“The sanctioning of Daniella Weiss and others today demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation at the hands of extremist settlers,” said David Lammy, the British foreign secretary.
“The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril,” added the diplomat.
Lammy’s office said he was also set to announce to parliament a freeze of negotiations geared towards signing a new free-trade agreement with Israel, in addition to summoning Jerusalem’s ambassador to London, Tzipi Hotovely, “over the expansion of military operations in Gaza.”
“While the U.K. government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza,” the Foreign Office statement read.
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded: “The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago. External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”
“Even prior to today’s announcement, the free-trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current U.K. government,” the spokesman noted in a post on social media.
The deal “would serve the mutual benefit of both countries,” wrote Marmorstein. “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy, that is its own prerogative.”
He called the sanctions on Judea and Samaria residents “unjustified and regrettable,” noting the recent murder of Tzeela Gez, 30, in a Palestinian attack while on the way to deliver her baby on May 14.
“Doctors continue fighting for her newborn’s life in the hospital,” he added.
Incidents have decreased
The Israel Defense Forces recorded 663 instances of violence by Jews against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria last year, a 34% decrease compared to 2023, when 1,005 incidents were recorded by the IDF.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem recorded thousands of Palestinian terrorist attacks against Jews in 2024, including many in Judea and Samaria.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times last year, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on Feb. 17.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.