David Cameron planned sanctions on Israeli ministers – would it have worked?
The IndependentIn a remarkably candid interview, David Cameron revealed that, as foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government, he was preparing to place sanctions on two members of the Israeli cabinet in protest at the conduct of the war in Gaza. Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, represent the more extreme nationalist end of opinion within Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and air opinions not obviously compatible with the accepted rules of war, the sanctity of human rights, and United Nations resolutions. Cameron suggested that personal sanctions would be the best way to put pressure on Netanyahu to abide by international law and move towards a ceasefire. Presumably, he judged that such personal sanctions were symbolically powerful – and directed at the more militant elements of Israeli opinion – but not as provocative and destabilising as, say, the partial arms embargo to which the incoming Labour government eventually agreed.
History of this topic
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