Afrasianet - The United States has denounced sanctions imposed by five Western countries on extremist Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Washington 's position was expected.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. condemned the sanctions imposed by the governments of Britain, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia on two current members of the Israeli government.
On Tuesday, they imposed sanctions on Ben Gvir and Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rubio said in a post on the X platform that "these sanctions do not reinforce U.S.-led efforts to reach a ceasefire , return all hostages home and end the war."
"The United States urges the lifting of sanctions and stands with Israel."
Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, also denounced the sanctions, saying they were "deeply troubling and totally unacceptable."
Obstructing the two-state solution
Commenting on the US response, the Australian prime minister said Wednesday that US and Israeli condemnation of sanctions on the two extremist ministers was expected, noting that the two men had blocked the two-state solution.
In an interview with ABC Radio Sydney, Albanese said: "The Israeli government must uphold its obligations under international law, and some of the expansionist rhetoric that we have seen clearly contradict that from these hard-right members of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's government."
He added that the two extremist ministers' remarks "helped seriously obstruct the two-state solution."
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wang said the sanctions included freezing their financial assets and banning them from entering the five countries.
"We, along with those other countries and the wider international community , believe that we will only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security," Wang said in a television interview.
Fueling violence
On Tuesday, Britain announced sanctions against the two Israeli government ministers for "extremist and inhumane" statements about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
"We announce sanctions against Ben Gvir and Smotrich," said a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Britain, which both had a role to play in fuelling violence against Palestinians. "We express our dismay at the extreme suffering of civilians in Gaza. We are committed to the two-state solution."
The move is one of the strongest Western actions against senior Israeli figures since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and reflects rising international anger over serious violations of international law and human rights in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Extremism and incitement
Smotrich, in addition to his position as finance minister, is responsible for the civilian supervision of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and is a leading supporter of the expansion of illegal settlements under international law.
Ben Gvir, who has a history of incitement, was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism, and kept in his home a portrait ofBaruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994.