Should the international community sanction Israel over settler violence in West Bank?

[FloralDeerPattern]

The problem of Israeli terrorism is getting worse and worse. Just over the past few weeks amongst other things Israeli terrorists have killed multiple people, commited sexual assault, beaten and threatened to rape young Palestinian girls, continually attacked the residents and property of the only remaining fully Christian town in the West Bank, stolen 100s of sheep from the Bedouin community, beaten activists who are there to provide a protective presence to Palestinians, set fire to property.

Palestinians don't have the right to defend themselves from this violent, rapidly escalating Israeli terrorism. They can't arrest and detain the Israeli terrorists. They are sitting ducks with no means of protecting themselves from beatings and sexual violence. Is it time that the international community steps in and sanctions Israel until they can control their obvious terrorism problem? What else can be done to try and protect innocent people from this escalating Israeli violence?

Human Rights Watch report accuses Israeli authorities of arming, funding and granting impunity to settlers to carry out the attacks.

“The Israeli government and the settlers share the same goal of maximum land and minimum Palestinians, with the authorities not only failing to stop settler violence, but actively enabling it,” said Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, the legal cover, and the budget to do it.”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/08/20/west-bank-israel-backed-settler-violence-drives-displacement

No clue why you are urging me to ‘have a go’ at OP! @ForElatedJadePeer

Only if you have a problem with the term "settlers" should you have challenged @FloralDeerPattern on it @Ellen2shoes - because it's a bit far in the thread to suddenly start picking people up on using the same term now.

’Settlers’ in quotes in reference to the earlier conversation around the term on this thread, for those who have just popped on it - hardly ‘having a go’

The attacks and lack of state protection have created a coercive environment that leaves many Palestinians saying they have no choice but to leave their homes, Human Rights Watch said.

Obviously that's what you meant. I don't know where you were supposedly having a go as you didn't tag anyone.I also put it in quotation marks because the term settlers completely sanitises the vicious killers that they are .

"In a joint statement on Thursday, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Norway, Canada and the Netherlands reiterated that warning, saying, "At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning." The European Commission, Greece, Austria, Spain, Australian, New Zealand and Sweden all signed onto the statement on Friday."

Well thank goodness for that. That should teach the Israelis a lesson. They are so angry, they might even summon another diplomat to a room to politely explain how angry they are before signing another trade deal.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-moves-forward-internationally-condemned-131129132.html

I know it’s a joke, just more hand wringing really 😡

Paying lip service to condemning the violence.

"Settlers" killed a 17 year old yesterday.
Theres a video online but these people are above the law.

‘Former British and French diplomats urge action over Israel’s ‘erasure’ of Palestine
In letter to Macron and Burnham, more than 100 senior figures accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and call for measures including trade ban’

‘More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.
An unprecedented joint letter dispenses with diplomatic language by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and warning that the world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy.’

‘They urge the two states to take seven policy steps:

• Uphold the decisions of the international court of justice and the international criminal court.
• Suspend the EU-Israel association agreement and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement for breach of human rights provisions.
• Suspend arms transfers to and from Israel and all bilateral military cooperation.
• Insist on unrestricted aid access to Gaza, led by the UN Relief and Works Agency, other UN agencies and international NGOs, with consequences for non-compliance, and access too for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians.
• Ban all trade with settlements, including goods, investment, insurance and other financial services.
• Warn potential bidders for the “red line” E1 settlement or other settlement financing/construction that their interests in and with the UK and France will suffer.
• Make it an offence for British and French citizens to buy property on stolen Palestinian land and remove charitable status from “charities” funding settlements.’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/22/uk-france-diplomats-israel-palestine

They know it, you know it, I know it, Burnham knows it, Trump knows it, everyone with half a brain knows it. I don't think the Palestinians have a hope in hell. Please let me be wrong.

Israel is making hay while the sun shines.

They know that, as long as Trump is president, they can pretty much do as they like. They will make sweet deals with his family and some think they possess sticks as well as carrots here.

So that leaves Europe and the UK. Europe doesn’t seem to know which way to jump, caught between knowing what Israel is currently doing is wrong and post WW2 guilt (especially Germany).

You would have thought the E1 settlement would be an easy win for Europe- telling Israel to cease or face consequences. No one could claim victimisation or antisemitism here. But, other than empty words, they still seem paralysed.

OTOH, Israel hasn’t escaped totally. A large amount of the globe, outside of governmental circles, is disgusted by Netanyahu and his racist cabinet. This includes a fair chunk of the diaspora (including me). If the democrats get in, Israel’s support could collapse like a line of dominoes.

If the democrats get in they will presumably do something about settler violence?

I think you're right about the guilt factor within Europe but with the settlers they are behaving like criminals and should be treated as such.

@Twiglets1 ,

As you know, I think the time has come to sanction Israel, as the western world sanctioned South Africa over Apartheid. Or, at least, to give Israel a strong deadlines ultimatum to deal with settler violence and halt E1 (the settlement which would make a Palestinian state impossible due to its size and location).

There is a complex web of interdependencies, though, which seem to make this hard with Trump in the Whitehouse.

I don't agree with sanctioning the whole country of Israel at the moment (as you know).

But I do agree that Israel should be given a strong deadlines ultimatum to deal with settler violence and halt E1.

I feel like, depending on the October election results, a government without the right wing extremists would do this anyway. But best not to leave that to chance.

I wholeheartedly believe that the time for Israel to be sanctioned is way overdue.

‘You would have thought the E1 settlement would be an easy win for Europe- telling Israel to cease or face consequences. No one could claim victimisation or antisemitism here. But, other than empty words, they still seem paralysed.’

Yes, can there be anything more deserving of sanctions than ongoing ethnic cleansing?

All roads lead to the horrible question:
If ethnic cleansing is not enough, what more would Israel need to do before the EU can be galvanised into action?

I agree Ellen. The expansion of borders (ignoring the huminatarian crisis) is what Russia has been heavily sanctioned for and yet Israel has not been.

I think the sanctions would be better happening before Israelis go to the polls so they are in no doubt returning a government with the same values and plans will have serious consequences on the country.

They can be lifted at any time of course.

@Ellen2shoes, I wondered that a while ago. I'm not sure there is anything. They can't even agree to sanction Ben Gvir.

Sanctioning people or settlements is lip service and totally pointless.

I don’t think Ben G’vir (or his cronies) want a city break to London or to invest in European markets. Even if they did, they could form shell companies etc.

And as for not trading with the settlements, what’s to stop them selling to a trader in Jerusalem, for instance, and the trader selling the goods to the west. I really don’t believe the tiny trade in things like olives is that tightly monitored as to provenance .

There is a complete double standard when it comes to Russia vs Israel. I saw this yesterday and I think that it demonstrates it quite well. For reasons only known to themselves the press and our governments have tiptoed around Israel in a way they wouldn't dream of doing with other nations. It's time that they called a spade a spade and dealt with them accordingly.

Agreed. The more I read about the actual consequences of settlement sanctions, the more I see that they are a complete waste of time.

It’s ridiculously easy to avoid sanction - businesses can just shift their premises from the West Bank into undisputed sovereign Israeli territory just as they can easily blend agricultural products into larger processing centres in Israel before export.

In any case, because senior Israelis are the push behind the settlements, they simply pressurise the banks to override restrictions on business and personal accounts. Israel already reimburses settlement exporters so that tariffs are neutralised!

Why the pussyfooting around like this? It really is an infuriatingly feeble pretence.

Absolutely agree. Where is the justification for this blatant double standard.

The UK relationship with Russia is very different to the UK relationship with Israel (historical allies). This is bound to influence the way we react to the two countries.

Absolute double standards but we have seen it everywhere, FIFA, Eurovision other sports etc. Russia and Israel are held to different standards for the same actions.

Excellent comparison.of headline there @FloralDeerPattern . It's happened so many times in the subtle language used in reporting. It shows how Israel can and has got a free pass for atrocities.

I can’t see how this is a remotely acceptable defence. Imagine 2 murderers/thieves/rapists in court - one is sentenced but the other is let off because the judge was once friends with his family….

It’s not intended as a defence more an observation.