🇬🇧 UK AND EUROPE — SETTLEMENT TRADE MEASURES DRAW ISRAELI RESPONSE: British Jewish Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, announcing sanctions targeting settlements in Judea and Samaria, said, “We agree that there is ‘ethnic cleansing’ there.” Britain announced a ban on purchasing goods from what it calls “illegal settlements” and threatened measures against companies providing services supporting settlement expansion. France also imposed sanctions.
Iceland, Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Finland, France, Canada and Sweden have affirmed plans to impose national sanctions, support European restrictions on settlement-related trade, or actively consider such measures under their respective procedures.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the British ambassador to be expelled “tonight,” accusing Britain of antisemitism and declaring, “We will not be a doormat” and “The British Mandate in the Land of Israel is over,” according to an X/Grok translation. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, known in Britain as the Falkland Islands, and sanction Britain for as long as what he described as its “occupation” continues. The U.S. is also threatening a response.
🗳️ ELECTIONS — SEPARATE SMALLER LISTS SHARPEN THRESHOLD RISKS: Ofer Winter submitted his Knesset slate without a merger after rejecting nationalist-camp unity proposals. Smotrich accused Winter of “stubbornly” rejecting every proposal, while Winter replied: “I appreciate your work, but the public wants new people who were not involved in October 7.”
Netanyahu’s side enters the final candidate-list stage with several separate smaller lists, including Smotrich-Feiglin, Winter, Noam and the Yoaz Hendel-Yaron Zelekha technical bloc. Eisenkot failed to persuade Benny Gantz to withdraw but faces less exposure to wasted votes, leaving more of the threshold risk concentrated among smaller parties on Netanyahu’s side. Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of seeking “chaos through indecision and election after election.”
A Channel 12 News/Midgam poll conducted by Mano Geva and published Monday night gives Winter four seats and narrows the gap between the Zionist opposition and Netanyahu blocs to 57-52. Eisenkot’s Yashar leads with 25 seats, Likud receives 21, Smotrich-Feiglin and Ben Gvir six each, and Hendel-Zelekha remains below the threshold at 2.7%. Arab parties receive 11 seats separately. Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas said: “We see ourselves as partners in the next government.”
Benny Gantz remains in the race, placing Pnina Tamano-Shata second alongside Alon Schuster and former MK Mufid Mari, while former Beit Shemesh mayor Dr. Aliza Bloch is also joining his slate. Gantz called for “a broad Zionist government.”
Likud approved Netanyahu’s reserved slots, including Talik Gvili at No. 9, Yaakov Bardugo at No. 11, Elisha Madan at No. 15, David Peter at No. 16, former Labor MK Eli Goldschmidt at No. 26, Itzik Bontzel at No. 29 and Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi at No. 35. Madan lost both legs after being critically wounded in Beit Hanoun; Avivi founded the Israel Defense and Security Forum; and Goldschmidt says his political and security outlook changed after October 7.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yossi Bachar is joining Religious Zionism. Bachar fought terrorists in Be’eri on October 7, when his mother and two other relatives were murdered, and later served as deputy commander of the Southern Command. Keren Assayag has reportedly been promised a ministerial position and is expected at Netanyahu’s event tonight. Netanyahu is also expected to appear alongside new armored vehicles and told the Likud Secretariat regarding Iran: “We are getting closer to defeating the head of the octopus.” Separately, Gafni bid farewell following his ouster.
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