71 British MPs Call for Sanctions on Netanyahu and His Government's Justice Minister

Seventy-one Members of Parliament and peers from across the political spectrum in the UK Parliament, led by Labour MP Neil Duncan Jordan, have sent a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, calling for sanctions to be imposed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Justice Minister, Yariv Levin.

The letter, signed by the 71 lawmakers, stated: “We are writing to express our deep concern that the Government has yet to impose sanctions on members of the Israeli government due to the systematic torture and ill-treatment suffered by Palestinian detainees—including children—in Israeli detention centers.”

The letter added that responsibility for the well-documented systematic torture of Palestinian civilians lies with the Israeli occupation government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It continued: “While the sanctions announced in June 2025 against Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are a welcome step, they have not resulted in any significant change in the Israeli government’s approach toward Palestinian detainees. Since the announcement of those sanctions, practices of systematic torture against Palestinians have escalated, amid an almost complete culture of impunity.”

The document called for additional steps to help end this culture of impunity by imposing sanctions on Justice Minister Yariv Levin of the occupation government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The letter was signed by MPs from the Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Conservative parties, among others.

Notably, the British government imposed sanctions in 2025 on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in response to their “repeated incitement to violence against Palestinian gatherings.”