An Israeli farmer and a nonprofit organization in Judea and Samaria are mounting the first legal challenge to UK sanctions imposed since 2024. Hashomer Yosh and Moshe Sharvit contest accusations of incitement and abuse, calling the measures unjustified.
Israeli 'settler' and NGO to challenge UK sanctions.
An Israeli farmer and a nonprofit organization in Judea and Samaria are mounting the first legal challenge to UK sanctions imposed since 2024. Hashomer Yosh and Moshe Sharvit contest accusations of incitement and abuse, calling the measures unjustified.
Israel National News
1 minutes
Jun 30, 2025 at 11:32 AM (GMT+3)
Jewish community in Judea and Samaria
Sraya Diamant/Flash90
An Israeli citizen and a nonprofit organization operating in Judea and Samaria have launched a legal challenge against sanctions imposed on them by the British government.
Their challenge will be the first among the various Israeli individuals and entities targeted by the UK since 2024.
The two petitioners are Hashomer Yosh, a nonprofit organization established in 2013 that supports Israeli farmers in Judea and Samaria through security assistance, agricultural aid, and volunteer mobilization, and Moshe Sharvit, the founder of “Moshe’s Farm,” an agricultural outpost in the Jordan Valley.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office sanctioned Sharvit in February 2024, citing alleged involvement in harassment of Palestinian Authority Arabs and Israeli human rights activists. The US Department of the Treasury followed with its own sanctions in March.
Later, in October 2024, the UK imposed separate sanctions on the farm, which was founded by Moshe and his brother, the late Cpt. Harel Sharvit, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in December 2023.
Hashomer Yosh was sanctioned by the US in August 2024 and by the UK two months later. The UK alleged the group provided assistance to Judea and Samaria outposts it had also designated.
Both petitioners strongly contest the basis for their designations and have begun the process of applying to the FCDO to receive the sanctions packages which detail why the UK decided to sanction them.
In one of his first foreign policy decisions after taking office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump reversed all sanctions previously imposed by the Biden administration on Israeli civilians and organizations, including both Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh.
Hashomer Yosh, which operates across multiple agricultural communities in Judea and Samaria, emphasized that its mission is humanitarian and focused solely on supporting struggling farmers facing daily threats, including agricultural theft and violence.
“We were founded to help farmers and that is what we do,” said Meir Bertler, a representative of Hashomer Yosh. “The UK’s decision to sanction us reflects a misunderstanding of our work on the ground. We are confident that the legal process will correct this injustice.”
UK sanctions against Israelis have not stopped with these right-wing entities and civilians. On June 10, just three days before the war with Iran erupted, the UK decided to sanction Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in response to their alleged “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities.”
An Israeli farmer and a nonprofit organization in Judea and Samaria are mounting the first legal challenge to UK sanctions imposed since 2024. Hashomer Yosh and Moshe Sharvit contest accusations of incitement and abuse, calling the measures unjustified.
Israeli 'settler' and NGO to challenge UK sanctions.
An Israeli farmer and a nonprofit organization in Judea and Samaria are mounting the first legal challenge to UK sanctions imposed since 2024. Hashomer Yosh and Moshe Sharvit contest accusations of incitement and abuse, calling the measures unjustified.
Israel National News
1 minutes
Jun 30, 2025 at 11:32 AM (GMT+3)
Jewish community in Judea and Samaria
Sraya Diamant/Flash90
An Israeli citizen and a nonprofit organization operating in Judea and Samaria have launched a legal challenge against sanctions imposed on them by the British government.
Their challenge will be the first among the various Israeli individuals and entities targeted by the UK since 2024.
The two petitioners are Hashomer Yosh, a nonprofit organization established in 2013 that supports Israeli farmers in Judea and Samaria through security assistance, agricultural aid, and volunteer mobilization, and Moshe Sharvit, the founder of “Moshe’s Farm,” an agricultural outpost in the Jordan Valley.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office sanctioned Sharvit in February 2024, citing alleged involvement in harassment of Palestinian Authority Arabs and Israeli human rights activists. The US Department of the Treasury followed with its own sanctions in March.
Later, in October 2024, the UK imposed separate sanctions on the farm, which was founded by Moshe and his brother, the late Cpt. Harel Sharvit, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in December 2023.
Hashomer Yosh was sanctioned by the US in August 2024 and by the UK two months later. The UK alleged the group provided assistance to Judea and Samaria outposts it had also designated.
Both petitioners strongly contest the basis for their designations and have begun the process of applying to the FCDO to receive the sanctions packages which detail why the UK decided to sanction them.
In one of his first foreign policy decisions after taking office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump reversed all sanctions previously imposed by the Biden administration on Israeli civilians and organizations, including both Sharvit and Hashomer Yosh.
Hashomer Yosh, which operates across multiple agricultural communities in Judea and Samaria, emphasized that its mission is humanitarian and focused solely on supporting struggling farmers facing daily threats, including agricultural theft and violence.
“We were founded to help farmers and that is what we do,” said Meir Bertler, a representative of Hashomer Yosh. “The UK’s decision to sanction us reflects a misunderstanding of our work on the ground. We are confident that the legal process will correct this injustice.”
UK sanctions against Israelis have not stopped with these right-wing entities and civilians. On June 10, just three days before the war with Iran erupted, the UK decided to sanction Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in response to their alleged “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities.”