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"Australia has applied targeted financial sanctions and travel bans to two senior ministers in the Israeli government. Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, for their role in serious human rights violations and abuses relating to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank."
That's Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
"They are not the only members of the Israeli government whose actions have been problematic, they are certainly the most extreme."
Australia announced the move alongside the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway.
The Magnitsky-style sanctions, which came into effect on June 11, freeze any Australian assets and prevent travel to Australia, with similar sanctions imposed by the other nations.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy echoing Australia's concerns.
"These two individuals have been inciting violence against Palestinian people for months and months and months. They have been encouraging egregious abuses of human rights."
Commissioner on the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine and Israel, Chris Sidoti, welcomes the move.
"It's intended to send a very clear message to the Israeli government, and indeed to Israelis as well, that the way in which these two are acting is totally unacceptable in violation of international law."
The two people being sanctioned are Ministers in Israel's coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, although not from the same party, and they both live in settlements in the West Bank.
"These two have very long history, going back long before they were ministers in the current Israeli government of calling for violations of international law. They are at the extreme end of the extreme right nationalist movement in Israel."
Itamar Ben-Gvir is Israel’s national security minister and leader of an ultra-nationalist party called Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power.
Mr Ben-Gvir has supported Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including providing arms to Israeli civilians in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and support for a group on both the Israeli and United States terrorism blacklists, according to Reuters.
Bezalel Smotrich is Israel's finance minister, and the leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, which has 14 seats in the Israeli parliament.
Last month, Smotrich said by the end of 2025, Gaza's population would be "concentrated" in a narrow strip of land he described as a "humanitarian zone", with the remainder of the enclave "totally destroyed", according to the Times of Israel.
Minister Wong says there's no single incident that has led to the sanctions.
"The work on this has been months in the making."
Last month, Mr Smotrich announced plans to create 22 new settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which are regarded as illegal under international law.
Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory.
Commissioner Sidoti says Israeli operations in the area have increased this year.
"The Israeli forces have been moving through the West Bank in a similar way, starting from the north of the West Bank in the same way as they started from the north of Gaza and progressively moving south. So there have been 10s of 1000s of people displaced in the West Bank over the course, particularly of the last six months. The fighting, the clearance operations, as they call them, got worse at the beginning of the year, and are continuing."
The United Nations says at least 910 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7 2023, with 13 reported killings of Palestinians by Israeli civilians.
Ten Israeli civilians have been killed in the West Bank in the same period of time.
The West Bank is not controlled by Hamas.
Mr Ben-Gvir has criticised the sanctions.
"These sanctions don't frighten me, boos to the white paper. I will continue to work for our state, for our nation, and I will continue to work and ensure that humanitarian aid will not enter for Hamas. We have overcome Pharoah, and we'll overcome this as well."
As has the Australian Jewish Association, saying it a statement it's appalled' by the move, which it states is a 'hostile and unjustified attack and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.'
Alex Ryvchin from the Australian Council of Executive Jewry says the group opposes the actions of the two Israeli ministers, but Australia should be focused on pressuring Hamas.
"Friends should speak frankly to one another, particularly when they feel they're acting against their own interests, but we have to also be mindful of the times. You know, Israel is still embroiled in a bitter, horrific conflict with Hamas. The hostage crisis is still ongoing. The number one priority of Israel's allies should be not sanctioning Israeli politicians over things they've said about the West Bank, but applying maximum pressure to Hamas to release the hostages and end this war so that there can be meaningful peace between the sides."
Hamas is a listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia, with sanctions imposed to members of the group.
Liberal Frontbencher Dan Tehan told the ABC there needs to be a thorough explanation about why the Albanese government has decided on the sanctions.
"It is is a very serious move to sanction two ministers from a democratically elected government, and what we want is a briefing, and we want to know a very clear explanation as what the threshold was leading to this decision. We also would like to know how it's going to help the peace process. We all want peace in the Middle East and the United States, who is leading this peace process has said this will be very unhelpful."
United States Secretary of State Marc Rubio condemned the move in a post on X, saying the 'sanctions do not advance U-S-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war'.
Minister Wong says Australia has chosen to take its own position.
"The alliance is an alliance that is strong and that has stood the test of time through administrations and prime ministers, governments of different persuasions, from time to time we have differences of views."
Former Palestinian Ambassador to Australia Izzat Abdulhadi told SBS Arabic he welcomes the announcement.
"The statement is consistent with credible and genuine Australian evolving positions towards Israel/Palestine conflict, in particular the Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the commitment to the two-state solution in accordance with international law and human rights."
The current Palestinian delegation welcomed the move in a statement.
Israel's ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said it was an "entirely unacceptable" decision adding that "Serious questions must be asked about the motives behind the timing of this announcement."
Israel's government has indicated it will respond to Australia's sanctioning of the two ministers next week.
