Australia Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Youth Group, Settlers over West Bank Violence

FILE Photo: Australian Federal Police officers detain a suspect in Sydney - AFP
FILE Photo: Australian Federal Police officers detain a suspect in Sydney - AFP
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Australia Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Youth Group, Settlers over West Bank Violence

FILE Photo: Australian Federal Police officers detain a suspect in Sydney - AFP
FILE Photo: Australian Federal Police officers detain a suspect in Sydney - AFP

Australia on Thursday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli settlers and a youth group it said had been involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The group was responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinians, while the settlers had been involved in beatings, sexual assault and torture and in some cases death, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.

"We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution," Wong said, Reuters reported.

The move by the Australian government comes after allies Britain, the United States, Canada and Japan sanctioned some Israeli settlers in response to the violence in the West Bank.

Violent acts by some Israeli settlers in the West Bank have increased amid Israel's war in Gaza, sparked by an attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal but Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.

Australia considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories illegal and an obstacle to peace.



Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
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Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA

Iran Saturday sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the Revolutionary Guard, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached in 550-kilometer orbit in space. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite.
IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.
It said the satellite-carrier rocket Qaem-100, using solid fuel, was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row.
Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hardline predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.