Australia imposes sanctions on Israeli settlers over violent assaults against Palestinians

Australia’s foreign minister has announced that the country is imposing financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli settlers who have violently assaulted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Penny Wong, the foreign minister, said the violence included beatings, sexual assault and torture resulting in serious injury and in some cases death and urged the Israeli government to "recognise the importance of its standing and legitimacy in the international community".

She added that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law in her statement made on Thursday.

"The entity sanctioned is a youth group that is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinian communities," she said.

"We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution."

The move by the Australian government comes after Britain, the United States, Canada and Japan sanctioned some Israeli settlers in response to the violence in the West Bank earlier this week.

Israel's embassy in Australia said the country condemned acts of violence against Palestinian communities.

"Israel is a state of law and will work to bring the extreme minority involved to justice," a spokesperson said in an email.

However, at least 554 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank ever since the Gaza war began in October 7 without trial, with thousands more detained, held without trial, and abused in prison.

The death toll is over three times higher than in 2022.

The sanctions on the Israeli settlers come after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week demanded Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories as rapidly as possible and make reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts".