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 joint statement 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 said in a statement. “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.”

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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 “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 relocating Gazans from the Gaza Strip.

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Smotrich responded in a speech 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’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 published Tuesday.

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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,” he wrote. “But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!”

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: pic.twitter.com/KoNVqyP66W

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) April 25, 2025

In April, protesters near Yale University hurled bottles 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, Jewish News Syndicate reported.

“It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures,” Sa’ar stated.

Los Angeles police detained a CNN reporter and his crew on live television Tuesday night as anti-ICE riots continued to roil the city following federal immigration enforcement raids.

CNN correspondent Jason Carroll was captured on live television with his hands behind his back, surrounded by officers in riot gear during Laura Coates’ 11 p.m. broadcast.

“I’m being detained, Laura,” Carroll can be heard saying after police briefly restrained him and his crew, according to a report from the New York Post.

Officers ultimately allowed Carroll to leave, but warned him not to return to the area.

“We’re letting you go, but you can’t come back … if you come back in, then you go,” an officer told the reporter.

A CNN spokesperson confirmed to the New York Post that the news team was “briefly detained” while documenting events as police cleared the area, adding they were “pleased the situation resolved quickly once the reporting team presented law enforcement with their CNN credentials.”

The CNN correspondent had just finished his report from the scene of the riot on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” when the host noticed the confrontation and went back to the L.A. crew.

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“Wait one second, John,” she said, interrupting her panel guest. “Hold on. I wanna – Jason, what’s going on? I hear you. Am I seeing Jason Carroll being – what happened? Jason?”

“I am being detained,” Carroll replied. “I’m being detained, Laura.”

Carroll narrated the encounter while the LAPD escorted him away.

CNN’s reporter on scene in Los Angeles: I’m being detained.. pic.twitter.com/DANNms8ZZj

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 10, 2025

“I’m not being arrested, correct, officers?” he asked.

“Did you hear what he told you?” an officer asked the reporter.

“No,” Carroll replied.

“We’re letting you go, but you can’t come back,” the officer said. “Because then if you come back in, then you go. Ok, please?”

“Ok, thank you, officer,” Carroll replied before attempting to communicate with Coates again.

“If you guys can still hear me, what happened was, I was –” Carroll said before being cut off by an alleged New York Times reporter.

“I’m Chris with The New York Times. We got video of you guys. If you need it later, call The New York Times.”

The Post notes it is still unclear who “Chris” is at this time, and the Times has yet to confirm his role at the paper at the time of publication.

“Thank you, I appreciate that,” Carroll said before going back to Coates.

“So here’s what happened, Laura,” he said. “I was called over, and the officer told me to put my hands behind my back. I said, ‘Am I being arrested?’ He said, ‘You are being detained.’ I was walked out of the area. They took down my information.”

Carroll’s audio suddenly cut out, leading Coates to turn to CNN Chief Law Enforcement Analyst John Miller for analysis.

Miller, the former Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the NYPD, said police officers have to remain skeptical of “press” credentials when responding to protests because “you have anarchist groups and agitators who show up and say, ‘Well, I have a blog, so therefore I’m press. So therefore, even though I’ve been throwing bottles and screaming epithets, I’m not part of the protest. I want to be treated as media.’ So they sort through people one at a time.”

The Los Angeles anti-ICE protests, which began somewhat peacefully early Saturday after reported raids in the area, deteriorated into more chaotic scenes by late afternoon, leading President Donald Trump to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to the area.

On Sunday, a reporter for the CNN-affiliated 9News Australia was struck by a rubber bullet fired by law enforcement while conducting a live broadcast.