Months after they were promised, Ottawa still hasn't imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers

Their purpose is to establish facts on the ground that obstruct any move toward a two-state solution, and they often also serve to create a pretext for the IDF to declare security zones and confiscate Palestinian land around them.

The escalation in settler attacks, and in killings of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and police, began several months before October 7, 2023 and dates back to the arrival in power of the current Netanyahu government the previous December.

In order to form a coalition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with two extremist parties led by West Bank settlers Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who demanded key offices in exchange for their support.

Former IDF chief Benny Gantz — a rival of Benjamin Netanyahu for the country's leadership — called the deal "a decision that will rip apart the chain of command, harm the security of Israeli citizens and our international standing."

A Palestinian woman sits outside her torched home, days after it was set on fire by Jewish settlers, in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya on Saturday, June 24, 2023.

Since its arrival in office in 2015, the Trudeau government has consistently voted against the annual UN motion that calls for the Fourth Geneva Convention to be upheld in the Occupied Territories and for settlement construction to cease.