### Keeping up the pressure Today, the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the UK [imposed sanctions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/10/uk-and-allies-sanction-two-far-right-israeli-ministers-itamar-ben-gvir-bezalel-smotrich-over-monstrous-gaza-comments) against two far-right Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Like the ones levied against Russian officials following the invasion of Ukraine, these sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes. This is a small, belated, and largely-symbolic gesture - but it's a step in the right direction. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich represent a dangerous ([and, unfortunately, growing](https://newlinesmag.com/argument/why-most-israelis-believe-the-conflict-can-never-be-resolved/)) far-right constituency within Israel. Before entering politics, Ben-Gvir worked as a defense lawyer, representing settlers suspected of terrorism and hate crimes, including the perpetrator of the 2017 [Duma arson attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duma_arson_attack) (who killed three Palestinians: a married couple and their 18-month-old child). A picture of [Baruch Goldstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Goldstein) - who massacred 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounded more than 100 at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque - [hung on his living room wall](https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5660727,00.html) until 2020. Ben-Gvir is well known for inciting violence, and for his desire to destroy Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque and [replace it with the Jewish Third Temple](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-24/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-israeli-extremists-who-want-to-rebuild-the-temple-and-the-ministers-who-back-them/0000018f-0f34-d97f-abcf-efbd07d50000). Smotrich - Israel's finance minister, and a prominent figure within the settlement movement - is cut from the same cloth. He refused to label Baruch Goldstein a terrorist. He [championed segregation](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2016-04-05/ty-article/.premium/israeli-lawmaker-my-wife-wouldnt-want-to-give-birth-next-to-an-arab-woman/0000017f-f782-d47e-a37f-ffbe2cc90000) between Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. He [labeled himself a “proud homophobe"](https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-home-hopeful-boasts-of-being-proud-homophobe/). He supported a [shoot-to-kill](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/12/bezalel-smotrich-israel-far-right-demagogue-drawing-fringe-beliefs-to-centre) policy on Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank. He openly called for ethnic cleansing and apartheid as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation, [long before October 7th](https://www.972mag.com/smotrich-decisive-plan-israeli-public/). We should welcome the decision to sanction these fascists. But beyond its limited impact on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, this decision may open the door for further, more expansive sanctions against other officials bearing direct criminal responsibility for genocide and apartheid - Netanyahu chief among them. International attention is rightly focused on the atrocities unfolding daily in Gaza, and on the Strip's immediate humanitarian needs. In response, central currents within the western anti-genocide campaign have rightly demanded their governments: 1) [impose a two-way arms embargo](https://www.cjpme.org/stop_arming_israel) on Israel, and 2) [recognize the state of Palestine](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-mp-sign-open-letter-palestinian-statehood-1.7388628). We must keep up this pressure. But we must also remind our representatives of the wider context, and demand more. In 2021, the world's most reputable human rights organizations [concluded](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/world/middleeast/israel-apartheid-palestinians-hrw.html) that Israel's system of control over Palestinians - across all of Israel/Palestine; between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean - amounts to apartheid: a crime against humanity under Article 7 of [the Rome Statute](https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf) (the International Criminal Court's founding document). Israel's apartheid regime [has only deepened](https://www.btselem.org/topic/apartheid) since October 7th. In their joint statement, the five countries' foreign ministers stated they are "steadfastly committed to the two-state solution and will continue to work with our partners towards its implementation". According to recent reports, France [is pushing allies to unilaterally recognize the state of Palestine](https://www.politico.eu/article/france-lobbying-europeans-country-to-recognise-palestinian-statehood-gaza-israel/), hoping to pressure Israel to return to the negotiations table, thus reviving the two-state solution. While the diplomatic pressure is welcome, we must demand much more - including accountability for decades of apartheid and occupation. In [a recent piece](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel/gaza-war/70082/what-needs-to-change-for-palestine), Dana El Kurd overviews these recent initiatives, highlighting how western international actors continue to support an outdated framework based on the Oslo Accords, which failed to address Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination. This stale, two-state framework excludes meaningful Palestinian input, relies on on unpopular and undemocratic structures like the Palestinian Authority (PA), and ignores the impact of Israel's apartheid regime on Palestinians outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Any meaningful peace process, El Kurd argues, must center Palestinian agency and governance, beyond the current PA structure. Palestine solidarity activists need to maintain the diplomatic momentum by pressuring their leaders to further isolate Israel diplomatically. But they must also demand more. Singling out Israel's two most egregious, fascist clowns for "encouraging and inciting human rights abuses" is not enough. Others - including Netanyahu; including high-ranking military officers - must be held accountable for their war crimes in Gaza. They should be held responsible for maintaining and entrenching apartheid - a crime against humanity - between the River and the Sea. Of course, some goals are out of reach. [A UN security council resolution](https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel/gaza-war/69984/un-security-council-intervention-gaza-netanyahu) calling for a ceasefire is not likely under Trump. But liberal western governments still have plenty of diplomatic maneuvering space, and we must demand they do more to end Israeli impunity. We must demand arrest warrants. We must demand they defend the International Criminal Court, under attack for investigating Israeli war crimes. We must demand further sanctions against Israel until a permanent ceasefire is reached.