An Israeli settler and a right-wing nonprofit organisation operating in the West Bank have launched a legal challenge against UK government sanctions – the first case of its kind since Britain began targeting Israeli individuals and entities in 2024.
Moshe Sharvit, who runs an agricultural outpost in the Jordan Valley, and the organisation Hashomer Yosh have both submitted formal objections to the UK Foreign Office, contesting the grounds on which they were sanctioned.
Sharvit was blacklisted by the UK in February this year for his alleged role in harassing Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists. The US imposed parallel sanctions one month later.
In October 2024, the UK extended the measures to include his outpost – known as “Moshe’s Farm” – founded alongside his brother, Captain Harel Sharvit, who was killed in combat during the war against Hamas in Gaza last December.
Hashomer Yosh, established in 2013 to support Israeli farmers in the West Bank, was sanctioned by the US in August 2024 and by the UK in October. British officials accused the group of assisting unauthorised settlement outposts previously designated by the government.
Both Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh have now formally requested access to the sanctions case files held by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), as part of their bid to challenge the designations through legal channels.
Meir Bertler, a representative of Hashomer Yosh, defended the group’s activities as purely humanitarian. “We were founded to help farmers, and that is what we do. The UK’s decision to sanction us reflects a misunderstanding of our work on the ground. We are confident that the legal process will correct this injustice.”
The group, which provides agricultural assistance, security coordination and volunteer support, says it operates across several communities facing daily threats such as crop theft and violence.
Sanctions against Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh were among a raft of measures introduced by the UK and US targeting settler violence and incitement in the West Bank – policies strongly backed by the Biden administration.
However, in one of his first foreign policy moves since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump reversed all such sanctions, including those targeting both Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh.
The UK, by contrast, has widened its scope. On 10 June – just days before the outbreak of war with Iran – it imposed sanctions on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”.
The challenge mounted by Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh is expected to set a precedent for other Israeli individuals or groups seeking to contest sanctions through the British legal system.
