The U.S. Must Sanction Israel’s Messianic Ministers – and American Jews Should Welcome It

The fanatic duo is causing chaos that will be exploited by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran – against American interests.

The time has come for the American government to sanction Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir over their actions in the West Bank.

And American Jews should not resist such a step by the Biden administration. While the Jewish establishment is unlikely to be supportive, it should be. It should see such sanctions as a necessary step to save Israel from internal chaos and to help restore its international legitimacy.

It will not happen immediately. But after the American presidential election, regardless of who wins, it’s likely that the American administration will begin to exert pressure on Israel’s government.

The fact is that while American and Israeli interests overlap, they are far from identical; differences exist in multiple areas, for both Democrats and Republicans. Left-wing Democrats, for example, will push for easing the occupation and for progress on two states. Trump Republicans will want Israel to “finish off the war” as soon as possible, and will also want movement on the Palestinian front, mostly because Donald Trump hopes to keep the Saudis happy; in his recent article in Foreign Affairs, Richard Haas, a Republican foreign policy heavyweight, reviews the various ways that an American government – including a Republican one – should be ready to exercise “tough love” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If the United States does decide to twist Israel’s arm, sanctions directed at two senior Israeli cabinet members, both influential, wildly hawkish, and with repulsive political views, is the right way for the Americans to do it.

Sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have been considered before. On February 1 of this year, the Biden administration issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against settlers who undermine security and stability in the West Bank. Initially, four settler activists were targeted, and the U.S. indicated that it was contemplating adding Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to the list.

But President Joe Biden, reluctant to sanction elected officials of democratic countries, vetoed the move. Nonetheless, the idea surfaced again this summer, in response to the increased visibility and outright craziness of both cabinet members. If the Americans return to a plan for sanctions later in the year, no one will be surprised if, this time, Biden decides to act against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

Some claim that the American government is obsessed with the two men. Earlier this year, Biden publicly called out Ben-Gvir, and the State Department attacked them both by name for “inflammatory and irresponsible” rhetoric on the war in Gaza.

Attacks on serving ministers of a close ally are extremely rare. But then again, rarer still is the moral indecency that these two cabinet members delight in displaying. In fact, until recently, it was unthinkable that any Israeli prime minister would appoint such people to the government. For 75 years, the rules were clear: Israeli Zionists, including Zionists of the right, do not join forces with racists and Arab-haters. But after swearing that he would do no such thing, Netanyahu then did exactly that in 2022, putting these two political arsonists in his cabinet. That American diplomats should be profoundly offended by the result, and give expression to those sentiments, is not a cause for alarm. It is the right thing to do.

Let us be clear: Itamar Ben-Gvir has been indicted countless times and convicted of supporting a terrorist organization. He is a dangerous criminal and an inciter with fascist inclinations, given to infantile outbursts of racist bile. Bezalel Smotrich is also a racist and a hater of Arabs, and author of a 2017 article entitled “Decisive Victory,” which proclaims that there is no Palestinian people and that Arabs in the territories are to be encouraged to emigrate and denied the vote if they remain.

Still, however much they abhor these views, it is the policy implications that most upset American officials. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are not simply peddlers of racist theories. They are doers. After the prime minister and defense minister, they are the most powerful officials in Israel’s government, using their influence to achieve two goals: rapid expansion of settlement in the territories, and undermining and collapsing the Palestinian Authority. As the Americans see it, they are succeeding in both realms, and are generating disorder and anarchy in the West Bank in the process.

Entrusted with the Finance Ministry and the administration of most of the West Bank, Smotrich has delayed and withheld tax monies from the Palestinian Authority that Israel collects on its behalf – monies that belong to the PA and not to Israel. He has opposed permitting Palestinians to work in Israel, although military and intelligence officials believe that doing so will ease their financial burden and prevent terrorism. And he has denied building permits to Palestinians in the West Bank while encouraging massive building of settlements and illegal outposts there.

Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir, who as national security minister is responsible for the police, has prevented police in the territories from dealing with rampant settler violence. He has ordered the police to act forcefully against demonstrators demanding a hostage deal, but has refused to put a stop to out-of-control crime in Arab cities in Israel. And he has boasted of permitting Jewish prayer on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, changing the status quo and leading to outrage and fury against Israel throughout the Muslim world.

The result: right-wing militias operate with impunity in the territories. There is a near-total collapse of the rule of law there. The police have lost the confidence of both Arabs and Jews, and many of the police commanders appointed by Ben-Gvir share his nationalist-fascist-racist ideology. In short, the much-feared civil war has in some ways already started, and Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and their minions are siding with the fascists.

And as American officials look upon this situation, they are distraught. They know that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir want to annex the territories and are prepared to expel Palestinians or start a regional war if necessary to do that. And the Americans see that the Palestinian Authority is barely holding on.

For these reasons, the Biden administration is as worried about developments in the territories as it is about Gaza and Israel’s north. It fears that if Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are not reeled in, the result will be chaos in the West Bank. And that chaos will be exploited by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran to initiate wider hostilities that would be disastrous to Israel.

Such an outcome would end any hope of normalization between Saudi Arabia and other moderate Sunni states and Israel. It would mean the collapse of the anti-Iran coalition that America has worked hard to create. And if the PA did disintegrate, it would mean that Israel would need to send forces that it does not have to maintain order in the West Bank.

Many Israelis and Jews around the world believe that Israel’s government must be replaced to make it possible for the hostages to return. I agree with that.

But the other reason to replace this government is that the fanatic, messianic duo of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir is leading Israel to disaster. If something is not done soon, the hostages will die, the economy will weaken, the divisions in Israeli society will deepen, and the international opprobrium to which Israel has been subjected will only increase.

And yet, while polls indicate that the majority of Israelis want an election now, Netanyahu, architect of this government and its master manipulator, has succeeded in holding together his radical coalition, despite its deep unpopularity.

Under these circumstances, American sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir would be welcome. Absent intervention from the outside, the Smotrich-Ben-Gvir team will continue to direct Israel’s destiny.

Such sanctions would presumably include asset freezes, visa bans, and an appeal to America’s allies to take similar action. They would send a strong message to the Netanyahu gang that the policies of his messianic cult are unacceptable in the civilized world of advanced democracies. They would boost the morale of the many Israelis who are feeling helpless, and would impose a stigma on the messianists that would serve as a warning to others.

Sanctions on an entire country are another matter. I oppose them on Israel, and in virtually all cases, on other countries as well. They tend to punish the wrong people and cause excessive collateral damage. But targeted sanctions on two bad guys – really bad guys who have abandoned authentic Zionism and brought shame to Judaism and the Jewish state – are a good thing. They may not be enough, but they are a start. And they just might make a difference.