Canada sanctions more ‘extremist’ West Bank settlers, prompting pushback from Israel

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir both remain in cabinet after both men suggested it would be justified to starve Palestinians, advocated against investigations into military sexual assaults and deployed rhetoric widely seen as promoting ethnic cleansing.

In its fifth round of sanctions on Israeli settlers, issued Tuesday, Canada listed two people associated with construction of settlements and five companies involved in setting up farms and other sites.

They include people and organizations that the U.K. and New Zealand have accused of attacking Palestinians.

Canada says the sanctions are aimed at maintaining the prospect of a two-state solution, which the current Israeli government has rejected.

Canada raised its concerns Tuesday in a joint statement with Australia, France, Norway and the United Kingdom announcing fresh sanctions.

“For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel. In some cases, settler violence takes place under the protection of Israel’s security forces,” the statement reads.

“We stand ready to take more action if the Government of Israel does not take urgent steps to address the situation on the ground.”

In a response Tuesday, Israel’s foreign ministry said Canada and its peer countries are ignoring antisemitism at home.

“Israel firmly rejects the disgraceful measures adopted by foreign governments against Israeli citizens, entities and a government minister,” says the statement, which the country’s embassy in Ottawa forwarded to The Canadian Press in response to Tuesday’s sanctions.

“Anti-Israeli policies of the kind adopted today only serve to fuel that antisemitism,” it says.

It says the new sanctions are “camouflaged as measures against violence” and that countries should instead sanction the Palestinian Authority over policies Israel claims are exacerbating the conflict.

The Palestinian Authority agreed last fall to various reforms. Canada has said there has been progress on those measures, while Israel has said progress has not been demonstrated.

Tuesday’s sanctions drew praise from Canadian groups advocating for Palestinians, including Independent Jewish Voices and Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

Both groups have for months called on Canada to sanction Libi Construction and Infrastructure, a company they say has helped to build settlements and destroy Palestinian homes. Canada sanctioned the company Tuesday, along with its owner and director.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East is urging Ottawa to bar settlement products from reaching Canada through its trade deal with Israel.

Last week, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs argued Canadian policies on Israel are driving violence on Canadian streets.

“Disproportionate condemnation of Israel confers social license to antizionist extremists in Canada who are targeting Jewish Canadians,” the group wrote in a statement seeking more action against antisemitism.

Canada’s former ambassador to Israel Jon Allen told the Senate foreign affairs committee on June 4 he is troubled by groups that denounce antisemitism but not Israeli policies.

“By not calling out what’s happening in the West Bank and Gaza, there is a complicity of silence,” Allen testified, adding that he himself is Jewish.

He added that “the failure sometimes, frankly, of the Jewish community” to speak out against Israeli government actions “makes people in Canada say, ‘Well, do they support everything Israel does? Do they support what happened in Gaza?'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2026.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Canada sanctions more ‘extremist’ West Bank settlers, prompting pushback from Israel

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