Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday after five Western governments imposed sanctions on them for “extremist rhetoric.”
The countries sanctioning the two Israeli cabinet members include Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia. They released <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-ministers-joint-statement-on-measures-targeting-itamar-ben-gvir-and-bezalel-smotrich">a joint statement</a> claiming the officials had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights” in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
“These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1932536569107525916">said in a statement</a>. “We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organization that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace.”
Rubio added that the United States “urges the reversal of the sanctions” and “stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/donald-trump-has-a-recommendation-for-greta-thunberg-after-her-selfie-flotilla?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Donald+Trump+Has+A+Recommendation+For+Greta+Thunberg+After+Her+%E2%80%98Selfie+Flotilla%E2%80%99">DONALD TRUMP HAS A RECOMMENDATION FOR GRETA THUNBERG AFTER HER ‘SELFIE FLOTILLA’</a>
The sanctions reportedly include travel bans and asset freezes, though the ministers are not known to have any assets in those countries.
In the five countries’ statement, they claim that the situation in Judea and Samaria cannot be viewed separately from “the catastrophe” in Gaza. They added that they are &#8220;appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid” and that they oppose “unlawful transfer of Palestinians from Gaza or within the West Bank” or any reduction of the territory of the Gaza Strip.
The countries accuse Ben-Gvir and Smotrich of “extremist rhetoric” including allegedly advocating for the “forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements.”
Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are the Israeli boogeymen to the Israeli Left and Western media due to their extremely nationalistic and hawkish right-wing views, including for the expansion of settlements in Judea and Samaria and support for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-announces-plans-to-create-an-emigration-administration-to-relocate-gazans">relocating Gazans</a> from the Gaza Strip.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christian-pro-israel-conference-cancels-after-overwhelming-number-of-credible-terror-threats?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Christian+Pro-Israel+Conference+Cancels+After+%E2%80%98Overwhelming%E2%80%99+Number+Of+Credible+Terror+Threats">CHRISTIAN PRO-ISRAEL CONFERENCE CANCELS AFTER ‘OVERWHELMING’ NUMBER OF CREDIBLE TERROR THREATS</a>
Smotrich responded <a href="https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/1932419325865889825">in a speech</a> on Tuesday while he was inaugurating the new Israeli settlement “Mitzpe Ziv” in the Hebron Hills.
“I heard that Britain had decided to impose sanctions on me for obstructing the establishment of the Palestinian state,” he said. “The timing couldn&#8217;t be better.”
He added that Britain has already once attempted to prevent Jews from “settling in the cradle of our homeland” and that “we are determined to continue building.”
In the five countries’ statement, they repeatedly mention the two-state solution, a plan for both an Israeli and Palestinian state, claiming that it is “extremist rhetoric” to reject such a plan.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Huckabee said that the United States no longer backs the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, in an interview with Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-10/us-holds-deep-doubts-about-palestinian-state-ambassador-says">published Tuesday</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-and-rubio-put-america-first-in-100-days?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=How+Trump+And+Rubio+Put+America+First+In+100+Days">HOW TRUMP AND RUBIO PUT AMERICA FIRST IN 100 DAYS</a>
Ben-Gvir also responded to the sanctions on Tuesday, claiming that these countries are attacking Israel while they have their own internal issues to worry about.
“While the European colonial countries fantasize that we Jews are still their subjects, the streets of their famous cities are being taken over by radical Islam,” <a href="https://x.com/itamarbengvir/status/1932455261756653815">he wrote</a>. “But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!”
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Moments after being protested by a bottle-throwing crowd near Yale University, Itamar Ben-Gvir sat down with me to discuss the stark contrast between his VIP treatment at Mar-a-Lago and the hostile reception from anti-Israel students.
Here’s what he said: <a href="https://t.co/KoNVqyP66W">pic.twitter.com/KoNVqyP66W</a>
&mdash; Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1915885745954558377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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In April, protesters near Yale University <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-israels-national-security-minister-responds-to-bottle-throwing-yale-crowd">hurled bottles</a> at Ben-Gvir during his trip to the United States, just a day after he was welcomed by applause from a crowd filled with Trump allies and members of Congress at Mar-a-Lago. He told The Daily Wire that the reception likely wouldn’t have happened if President Donald Trump had lost because he was detested by the Biden administration.
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“It would have been likely that they would not admit me and here I am today, from a situation where I was a persona-non-grata, to a situation where I am being loved,” he said. “I enter their room and there is an applause for what I say, on our ideas, on our world view, on the fact that I want a big and strong state of Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the government will call a special meeting next week to determine how to respond to the “outrageous, unacceptable decision” by the five Western governments, <a href="https://www.jns.org/london-to-sanction-ben-gvir-smotrich-over-anti-hamas-comments/">Jewish News Syndicate reported</a>.
“It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures,” Sa’ar stated.

Ben-Gvir Smotrich and Rubio

Rubio Defends Israeli Officials After 5 Western Governments Sanction Them For ‘Extremist Rhetoric’

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Canada

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Itamar Ben Gvir

Marco Rubio

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Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), a consistently staunch ally of the state of Israel, <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-issues-statement-after-biden-administration-condemns-israel">laced into the Biden administration</a> after it criticized Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for visiting Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, on Tuesday.
Last Sunday, the terrorist group Hamas <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/we-will-not-be-dictated-to-by-hamas-new-israeli-national-security-minister-visits-temple-mount/">threatened Israel</a> if Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount. “The extremist Ben-Gvir is trying to convince his voters that he is implementing his promises by breaking into Al-Aqsa (Mosque),” Hamas official Harun Nasser El-Din snapped, then called the Israeli government the “government of the occupation.&#8221;
“We hold the government of the occupation responsible for any escalation if there is damage to Al-Aqsa (Mosque) or to our people who are clinging to Jerusalem,&#8221; Nasser El-Din said. &#8220;We call on our people to protect Al-Aqsa (Mosque), and we are sure that our people will thwart all attempts to impose a new reality on Al-Aqsa (Mosque).”
“The Israeli government of which I am a member will not surrender to a vile murdering organization,” Ben-Gvir tweeted. “The Temple Mount is open to everyone and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, let them understand that times have changed. There is a government in Jerusalem!”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel, referring to Ben-Gvir’s simple 15-minute walk around the Temple Mount, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-accuses-ben-gvir-of-storming-al-aqsa-by-visiting-temple-mount/">said</a> of the Biden administration’s ambassador to Israel, “Ambassador Nides has been very clear in conversations with the Israeli government on the issue of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites. Actions that prevent that are unacceptable.”
A spokesperson for the Biden White House National Security Council echoed, “The United States stands firmly for preservation of the status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem. Any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable.”
“The Biden administration&#8217;s pathological obsession with undermining Israel is endangering the national security of America and our allies,” Cruz fired. “A visit by a minister from Israel’s government to a site inside Israel is not a change in any status quo arrangement, and it should not be controversial for a Jew to visit the holiest site in Judaism.”
Cruz warned that the Biden administration’s statements would inflame the tensions between Israel and Palestinians, declaring, “The statements from the Biden White House and State Department, which suggest otherwise, will further destabilize the Middle East and risk inciting terrorism. They convince Palestinian officials that compromise is unnecessary because Democrat administrations will coerce our Israeli allies into making dangerous concessions.”
“The Biden administration has consistently sought to undermine Israel’s security and sovereignty over its territory,” Cruz noted. “It prohibited even mentioning the ‘Abraham Accords,’ sought to open a Palestinian consulate in Israel&#8217;s capital Jerusalem, unleashed the FBI against the Israeli army, and publicly ostracized parts of Israel’s democratically-elected government. Meanwhile, the administration is pouring over a billion dollars into Palestinian areas and bringing officials from the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization to Washington, D.C. Now it is doubling down on these disastrous policies.”
Related: <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/the-temple-mount-is-judaisms-holiest-site-and-it-always-has-been-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/">The Temple Mount Is Judaism’s Holiest Site, And It Always Has Been. Here’s Everything You Need To Know</a>.

US-SENATE-TECH-EXECUTIVES

‘Pathological Obsession With Undermining Israel’: Cruz Rips Biden Administration For Slamming Israeli Minister’s Visit To Temple Mount

Ted Cruz Rips Biden Administration For Slamming Israeli Minister’s Visit To Temple Mount

Biden Administration

Ted Cruz

Temple Mount

U.S.

The new hard-line Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is now responsible for the Israeli police, visited the holiest place in Judaism, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, on Tuesday, and controversy erupted.
Tuesday marked the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet, the day on which religious Jews fast to commemorate the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar roughly 2,600 years ago that ultimately led to the destruction of the Biblical First Temple on the Mount.
On Sunday, the terrorist group Hamas threatened Israel if Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount. “The extremist Ben-Gvir is trying to convince his voters that he is implementing his promises by breaking into Al-Aqsa (Mosque),” Hamas official Harun Nasser El-Din snapped, then called the Israeli government the “government of the occupation&#8221;: “We hold the government of the occupation responsible for any escalation if there is damage to Al-Aqsa (Mosque) or to our people who are clinging to Jerusalem. We call on our people to protect Al-Aqsa (Mosque), and we are sure that our people will thwart all attempts to impose a new reality on Al-Aqsa (Mosque).”
“The Israeli government of which I am a member will not surrender to a vile murdering organization,” Ben-Gvir tweeted. “The Temple Mount is open to everyone and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, let them understand that times have changed. There is a government in Jerusalem!”
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ממשלת ישראל שאני חבר בה לא תיכנע לארגון מרצחים שפל. הר הבית פתוח לכולם ואם החמאס חושב שאם הוא יאיים עליי זה ירתיע אותי, שיבינו שהשתנו הזמנים. יש ממשלה בירושלים! <a href="https://t.co/vgDYBYacJG">pic.twitter.com/vgDYBYacJG</a>
&mdash; איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) <a href="https://twitter.com/itamarbengvir/status/1610170147720859648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Ben-Gvir also <a href="https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/365341">declared</a> on Tuesday. “The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel, and we maintain the freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews will also visit the site. Those who make threats must be dealt with an iron hand.”
Condemnation from those who would deny Jews access to pray at their holiest place came quickly:
“The repeated Israeli threats to change the historical status quo in the Aqsa Mosque would have serious consequences for everyone,” Palestinian Authority presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said, adding that the Palestinians oppose allowing Jews to pray at Judaism’s holiest site, the Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-726484">reported</a>.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry even accused Ben-Gvir, who was simply walking on the Temple Mount for 15 minutes, of “storming the site,” declaring the Ministry “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as an unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict.&#8221;
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, not to be outdone, echoed, “Jordan condemns in the severest of terms the storming of the Aqsa mosque and violating its sanctity.”
The United Arab Emirates joined in, saying it “reiterated its firm position on the need to provide full protection for the Al-Aqsa mosque and halt serious and provocative violations taking place there.”
Unsurprisingly, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-accuses-ben-gvir-of-storming-al-aqsa-by-visiting-temple-mount/">said</a> of the Biden administration’s ambassador to Israel, “Ambassador Nides has been very clear in conversations with the Israeli government on the issue of preserving the status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites. Actions that prevent that are unacceptable.”
A spokesperson for the Biden White House National Security Council echoed, “The United States stands firmly for preservation of the status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem. Any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable.”
But a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office <a href="https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/365361">rebuffed the claim</a> that Ben-Gvir’s visit disturbed the “status quo,” saying:
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committed to strictly maintaining the status quo, without changes, on the Temple Mount. We will not be dictated to by Hamas. Under the status quo, ministers have gone up to the Temple Mount in recent years, including Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan; therefore, the claim that a change has been made in the status quo is without foundation.
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“Jews ascending &amp; praying at the Temple Mount in #Jerusalem is the most natural of acts,” Yishai Fleisher, the spokesman for Hebron, the second holiest city for Jews, stated. “The real status quo is that this place has been the heart of our peoplehood for 3K years. Minister @itamarbengvir on the Mount today fought the terrorists and asserted our basic human rights.”
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Jews ascending &amp; praying at the Temple Mount in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Jerusalem?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Jerusalem</a> is the most natural of acts. The real status quo is that this place has been the heart of our peoplehood for 3K years. Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/itamarbengvir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@itamarbengvir</a> on the Mount today fought the terrorists and asserted our basic human rights. <a href="https://t.co/1Qn0L2dPSZ">pic.twitter.com/1Qn0L2dPSZ</a>
&mdash; Yishai Fleisher يشاي ישי פליישר 🕎 (@YishaiFleisher) <a href="https://twitter.com/YishaiFleisher/status/1610260001452343297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The notion that Jews should not be able to visit the holiest site in Judaism is absurd <a href="https://t.co/gSRBnlCs2a">https://t.co/gSRBnlCs2a</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1610268170262126592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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In September, the Biden administration had signaled that it wanted to blunt any rightward turn by Israel in the event that Netanyahu returned to power, singling out Ben-Gvir as “a huge problem for us.”
A Biden administration official said the White House would be “troubled by the possibility” that Ben-Gvir, a hardline conservative and the head of the Right-wing party Otzma Yehudit, might become a minister in the future Israeli government, according to <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/09/29/us-concerned-with-far-right-mk-becoming-minister-in-future-government/">Israel HaYom</a>.

Swearing in of New Israeli Parliament

‘We Will Not Be Dictated To By Hamas’: New Israeli National Security Minister Visits Temple Mount

Israeli National Security Minister Visits Temple Mount

Benjamin Netanyahu

Politics

The Palestinian terrorist suspected of killing an 18-year-old female Israeli soldier and wounding three others earlier this month was taken out Wednesday night when he opened fire on security guards outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The gunman had been wanted in the deadly October 8 attack that killed Sgt. Noa Lazar at a checkpoint near Jerusalem when he resurfaced at the entrance to Ma’aleh Adumim and opened fire, wounding one guard before he was killed.
“We had a miracle and a lot of luck this evening; two highly experienced security guards that were at the checkpoint at the city entrance neutralized the terrorist immediately, with bravery and a lot of resourcefulness and without fear,” Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel told the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-720062" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jerusalem Post</a>. “Ma&#8217;aleh Adumim will not surrender to terrorism.&#8221;
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
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BREAKING: Palestinian terrorist came to carry out a shooting attack in Maale Adumim and was eliminated by the security guards on the spot. <a href="https://t.co/RYER7y1p3m">pic.twitter.com/RYER7y1p3m</a>
&mdash; Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) <a href="https://twitter.com/HananyaNaftali/status/1582803492594679808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The terrorist was identified as Udai Tamimi, of the refugee camp of Shuafat in East Jerusalem. The IDF had been searching for him, but other residents of Shufat reportedly shaved their heads like his to make it more difficult for authorities to identify him.
United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Akiva Skolnick <a href="https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/361381" target="_blank" rel="noopener">witnessed the incident</a> Wednesday and described it to reporters.
“We were told at the scene that a terrorist opened fire at a security guard who miraculously was only injured in his hand. I treated him at the scene and then he was transported to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in light condition and fully conscious,” he said. “The terrorist was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Only days after Lazar’s murder, IDF soldier Ido Baruch was murdered in a drive-by shooting near the town of Shavei Shomron in Samaria.
Meanwhile, U.S. Democrats have been attempting to influence upcoming Israeli elections in hopes of barring the ascension of a powerful right-wing leader who may hold the key to the upcoming Israeli election.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Otzma Yehudit party has been projected to win between 14 and 17 seats in the Knesset, which would give him a chance to become the kingmaker in the Israeli government, was attacked by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA). Menendez reportedly warned Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that if he included Gvir in a new government he might run, it could harm U.S.-Israel relations.
According to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/10/01/israel-election-menendez-netanyahu-jewish-supremacists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios</a>, “People who were in the room saw how pissed off Bibi got” at Menendez’s comments.
Sherman tweeted, “As #Israel heads towards another election in November, I urge Israeli political leaders from all sides of the political spectrum to ostracize extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir whose outrageous views run contrary to Israel&#8217;s core principles of a democratic and Jewish state.”
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As <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Israel</a> heads towards another election in November, I urge Israeli political leaders from all sides of the political spectrum to ostracize extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir whose outrageous views run contrary to Israel&#39;s core principles of a democratic and Jewish state. (1/2)
&mdash; Congressman Brad Sherman (@BradSherman) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradSherman/status/1577072440731000833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Last week, Ben-Gvir <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkKbcHygFO0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Yishai Fleisher, the spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, that the reason for his running for the Knesset was to save Israel, saying Jews were afraid to walk at night, afraid to be Jewish, afraid to go to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, not just afraid in Judea and Samaria, but also in the rest of Israel.
“We have to watch out for our own security, and not count on other people,” Gvir said pointedly, noting that during the Holocaust Jews were waiting for others to blow up the railways to Auschwitz but it didn’t happen.

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GRAPHIC VIDEO: Israeli Guards Take Out Palestinian Terrorist Who Murdered 18-Year-Old Female IDF Soldier

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Rubio Defends Israeli Officials After 5 Western Governments Sanction Them For ‘Extremist Rhetoric’

‘Pathological Obsession With Undermining Israel’: Cruz Rips Biden Administration For Slamming Israeli Minister’s Visit To Temple Mount

‘We Will Not Be Dictated To By Hamas’: New Israeli National Security Minister Visits Temple Mount

GRAPHIC VIDEO: Israeli Guards Take Out Palestinian Terrorist Who Murdered 18-Year-Old Female IDF Soldier