AFP Asia Business

Britain and four allies joined forces Tuesday to sanction two Israeli ministers for “repeated incitements of violence” against Palestinians, upping their condemnation of Israel’s actions around the war in Gaza.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen, Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.The announcement was a rare joint action alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway and comes as the Israeli government faces growing international criticism over its conduct of the conflict with Hamas.The sanction sees the five countries break from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.Ben Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”, the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement.”These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now –- to hold those responsible to account,” they added.Smotrich and Ben Gvir are part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile ruling coalition.Both have drawn criticism for their hard-line stance on the war in Gaza and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has increasingly called for the territory’s annexation.Last month, he said Gaza would be “entirely destroyed” and that civilians would “start to leave in great numbers to third countries”.Ben Gvir has also called for Gazans to be resettled from the besieged territory.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the pair have used “horrendous extremist language” and that he would “encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language”.Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had been informed by Britain of its sanctions decision, describing the move as “outrageous”.The UK foreign ministry said in its statement that “extremist settlers have carried out over 1,900 attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year”.- ‘Personal capacity’ -It said the five countries were “clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop”.”Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold international humanitarian law,” the foreign ministry said. It added that the UK and its partners “support Israel’s security and will continue to work with the Israeli government to strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.”Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance,” it added.The action comes after the British government suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel last month and summoned its ambassador over the conduct of the war.It also announced financial restrictions and travel bans on several prominent settlers, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the war in Gaza “hurts my whole body” as he delivered an emotional speech while being honoured by the University of Manchester.Guardiola, 54, was speaking as he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester on Monday.”It’s so painful what we see in Gaza, it hurts my whole body,” Guardiola said in excerpts of his speech shared on social media.”Let me be clear, it’s not about ideology. It’s not about whether I’m right, or you’re wrong. It’s just about the love of life, about the care of your neighbour.”Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.”Maybe we think that we see the boys and girls of four years old being killed by the bomb or being killed at the hospital because it’s not a hospital anymore, it’s not our business,” Guardiola.”Yes, fine, we can think about that, it’s not our business. But be careful. The next one will be ours. The next four or five-year-old kids will be ours. “Sorry, but I see my kids, Maria, Marius and Valentina when I see every morning, since the nightmare started, the infants in Gaza, and I’m so scared.”Guardiola has not shied away from voicing political views in the past, throwing his weight behind the campaign for Catalan independence.He was awarded the honorary degree by the University of Manchester for his unprecedented success at City, where he has won six Premier League titles, as well as his work through his family foundation, the Guardiola Sala Foundation.The organsisation takes part in “established projects which strive to support the most disadvantaged”.Others within football have spoken out on Gaza.In October 2023, Liverpool and Egypt forward  Mohamed Salah called on “world leaders to come together to “prevent further slaughter of innocent souls”.The following month Bundesliga club Mainz sacked Dutch winger Anwar El Ghazi, now at Cardiff, over social media posts related to the conflict.