The United States has denounced sanctions by Britain and allies – including New Zealand – against Israeli far-right ministers, saying they should focus instead on the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

New Zealand has banned two Israeli politicians from travelling to the country because of comments about the war in Gaza that Foreign Minister Winston Peters says “actively undermine peace and security”.

New Zealand joins Australia, Canada, the UK and Norway in imposing the sanctions on Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Peters said they were targeted towards two individuals, rather than the Israeli government.

“Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immeasurably on October 7 [2023] and who have continued to suffer through Hamas’ ongoing refusal to release all hostages. Nor is it designed to sanction the wider Israeli government.”

The two ministers were “using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution”, Peters said.

“Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have severely and deliberately undermined that by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, while inciting violence and forced displacement.”

The sanctions were consistent with New Zealand’s approach to other foreign policy issues, he said.

“New Zealand has also targeted travel bans on politicians and military leaders advocating violence or undermining democracy in other countries in the past, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar.”

New Zealand had been a long-standing supporter of a two-state solution, Peters said, which the international community was also overwhelmingly in favour of.

“New Zealand’s consistent and historic position has been that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a violation of international law. Settlements and associated violence undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution.

“The crisis in Gaza has made returning to a meaningful political process all the more urgent. New Zealand will continue to advocate for an end to the current conflict and an urgent restart of the Middle East Peace Process.”

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said the move was “outrageous” and the government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the “unacceptable decision”. His comments were made while attending the inauguration of a new Israeli settlement on Palestinian land.

Peters is currently in Europe for the sixth Pacific-France Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice.

US concerns

“We find that extremely unhelpful. It will do nothing to get us closer to a ceasefire in Gaza,” US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.

Britain, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia “should focus on the real culprit, which is Hamas”, she said of the sanctions.

“We remain concerned about any step that would further isolate Israel from the international community.”

The two ministers faced repeated criticism but no formal sanctions under former US president Joe Biden. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel.

“If our allies want to help, they should focus on supporting Special Envoy [Steve] Witkoff’s negotiations and backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation when it comes to food and aid,” Bruce said.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed aid in coordination with the Israeli military, an effort criticised by the United Nations and longstanding aid groups which say it violates humanitarian principles.

‘You have to take actions’

University of Otago international relations professor Robert Patman told Morning Report it was a “calibrated fulfillment of the promise to follow up actions if Israel did not desist” from expanding its military operations in Palestinian territory.

“In May, the UK and France and Canada had demanded that Israel stop expanding its military operations in Gaza and allow emergency aid, humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“It should be recalled that in early March, Israel, unilaterally cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza and something like more than a million Palestinians now face starvation. And so this statement was made in May by those three countries, two of whom are members of the Five Eyes.”

New Zealand is also a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, as are the US and Australia.

Patman also noted that the International Court of Justice last year said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory – not just in Gaza, but also the West Bank – was illegal. New Zealand supported that recommendation.

“New Zealand’s position has been… that there must be a two-state solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

“Now the problem is that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his ministers adamantly opposed the two-state solution.”

The growing condemnation around the world of Israel’s response to the 7 October atrocities was a result of the United States’ “lack of will to try to make Israel comply with international law”, Patman suggested.

“I think the other liberal democracies are now beginning to react to that because they realise that Netanyahu, the Netanyahu government, has no intention of having a two-state solution.

“Iin fact, it seems to be in the process of weaponising food distribution in Gaza… They set up, with the United States, something called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which seems to be part of a strategy to gradually evict Palestinians from Gaza.

“Netanyahu’s government doesn’t make any bones about this. He wants to extend control over Gaza and… annex the West Bank [which] would completely rule out a two-state solution.”

Rather than just symbolic, Patman said European nations’ sanctioning of Israeli ministers could have a real impact.

“About 34 percent of Israel’s trade is with members of the European Union, and if this stance taken by these five countries is replicated elsewhere and spreads, not just to these two ministers but to the Netanyahu government, then we could be looking at a different situation.

“Verbal appeals to Israel to comply with international law have not worked. So, you know, if you believe in a two-state solution, then you have to take actions to try to bring it about.”

– Additional reporting by Reuters, AFP