In February 2022, the Board of Deputies published a short, succinct message on social media, in response to the news that a far-right Israeli politician, Bezalel Smotrich, was planning to visit the UK.
The Board stated, in Hebrew: “We reject the abominable views and the hate-provoking ideology of Bezalel Smotrich. We call on all members of the British Jewish community to show him the door. Get back on the plane, Bezalel, and be remembered as a disgrace forever.”
The tweet sparked uproar, within the UK Jewish community and in Israel, where it was hotly debated. Some described it as a principled example of how diaspora Jews could proudly express their Zionism while simultaneously calling out what they viewed as disturbing manifestations of extremism within Israel. Others denounced it as a shameful treatment of an individual who, whatever his faults, was an elected member of the Israeli Knesset.
In the interests of full disclosure, I was the Board’s director of public affairs at the time. Somewhat bizarrely, while I supported the statement in its aftermath, I played no part in it as I was on holiday, halfway around the world.
The question, however, is whether the Board would have published such a statement if Smotrich had been serving as an Israeli government minister at the time. We will no longer have an opportunity to find out, because today the British government announced sanctions against both Smotrich and his fellow far-right minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich. Photo: Kobi Gideon (GPO)
Smotrich and Ben Gvir have a long history of highly incendiary statements regarding the Arab population of Israel and Palestinians in general – but this entered a new phase in the period after 7 October 2023. Smotrich has called for the “total annihilation” of Gazan cities and for the “voluntary immigration” of its Arab inhabitants to other countries. Ben Gvir has similarly described the Israel-Hamas conflict as an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.”
Last month the UK, France and Canada published a statement which strongly criticised the Israeli government’s continued actions in Gaza. That statement included the line: “We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate.”
It also expressed strong opposition to any settlement expansion in the West Bank. It warned of further concrete actions in response if the Israeli government did not listen. The Israeli government’s response was to effectively accuse Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of siding with Hamas, and then announcing its intention to significantly expand the West Bank settlements.
One did not need to be a seasoned political prognosticator to suspect sanctions on both Smotrich and Ben Gvir would follow.
While individual communal political actions groups will either welcome or condemn the decision, the response from prominent UK Jewish communal organisations is likely to be muted. As the Board’s statement three years ago suggests, there is no love present for either Smotrich or Ben Gvir. But there will simultaneously be concern that the UK has felt it necessary to sanction two sitting Israeli government ministers, which will be seen as a further fraying of ties between the two countries.
While individual communal political actions groups will either welcome or condemn the decision, the response from prominent UK Jewish communal organisations is likely to be muted
From the wider Jewish community, there will be those who will compare the latest sanctions with the Government’s treatment of Qatar, citing this as an egregious double standard.
Despite the gulf state presenting itself as a peace broker, it has cultivated and sheltered the senior leadership of Hamas for years. In December, the Government honoured the Emir of Qatar with a state visit to the UK. Cynical voices may wonder whether that welcome would have been quite as effusive if the Qatari state hadn’t invested more than £100 billion in British assets over the last two decades.
Others may make a comparison to the Israeli government’s own decision in April to refuse entry to two Labour MPs, citing what it described as plans to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred”.
At the time, the foreign secretary strongly condemned this and described it as “no way to treat British parliamentarians”. Depending on one’s political viewpoint, in the wake of today’s sanctions decision in London and the response to it from Jerusalem, one could now accuse either the Israeli or British Governments of hypocrisy.
As always, Western countries shifting their foreign policy attitudes, however incrementally, will keep one eye on the United States. America has maintained broad support for Israel under Donald Trump’s administration, but its relationship with the Netanyahu Government is noticeable cooler than in Trump’s first term.
Israel was not included in Trump’s recent Middle East trip, and a planned visit to Israel by JD Vance was abruptly cancelled. Eventually, the administration’s secretary for homeland security, Kristi Noem, was sent by the Trump administration in May, meeting both Netanyahu and Ben Gvir, her counterpart, while there. Even that is interesting, because in April Ben Gvir visited the US, and while the Trump administration approved his visit, he had no meetings with senior US government officials while there.
Ben Gvir was quick to claim that meeting Trump administration officials “was not the main goal” of the trip. But it had previously been briefed that he would meet Noem while in Washington. Was this a simple scheduling conflict, rectified a month later? Or a wariness from the US in appearing to associate too closely with Ben Gvir in a domestic setting? Either way, it seems clear that the UK has calculated that any backlash from across the Atlantic regarding these sanctions can be easily weathered.
In the meantime, there will likely be deep disquiet from community leaders as to what the response from Israeli Government might be. Defence Minister Gideon Sa’ar has called the decision “outrageous” and said that “we will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision.”
The relationship between the UK and Israel now seems to be deteriorating on a week-by-week basis, which seems likely to have a negative effect on a Jewish community here which already feels battered and beleaguered.
