UK’s David Cameron slaps travel bans on ‘extremist’ Israeli settlers

LONDON — The U.K. is banning violent Israeli settlers from entering the country, Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced Thursday, in a bid to “make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts.”

In a post on social media, Cameron — the former British prime minister reappointed to the Cabinet last month — said “extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

And he added: “Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the U.K. to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts.”

The move comes amid increasing international scrutiny of violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday that he would propose sanctions on “extremist” Israeli settlers, while the United States last week moved to impose its own travel bans on settlers implicated in recent attacks on Palestinians. “As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Cameron’s call for Israel to do more to stop violence by Israeli settlers will be seen as a rare rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration from the U.K., which has stressed its support for Israel’s right to defend itself — while abiding by international law — following the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7.

The U.K. this week teamed up with the U.S. to slap fresh sanctions on Hamas’ leaders and financiers in a bid to ensure the group has “no future in Gaza.”