JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday condemned the Canadian government’s plan to ban trade in goods from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, calling Ottawa’s statement “outrageous” after a conversation with the deputy leader of Canada’s Conservative Party.

Sa’ar said he spoke Tuesday evening with Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and a member of Parliament from Thornhill, Ontario, about the Canadian announcement.

“Good to speak this evening with Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, about the Canadian Government’s outrageous statement on the banning Israeli goods,” Sa’ar wrote on X. “She reaffirmed the Conservative Party’s strong support for Israel and its firm opposition to the Canadian Government’s intentions in this regard.”

Canada on Tuesday joined Britain, France and several other countries in a joint statement saying it would introduce national measures to ban trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Ottawa intended to restrict trade in goods tied to settlements it describes as illegal under international law. The statement did not set a start date or list the products that would be covered.

The countries also criticized settlement construction, including plans tied to the E1 area east of Jerusalem, and called on Israel to halt settlement expansion and act against settler violence.

Israel rejects the characterization of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as illegal and has long argued that trade restrictions targeting those communities amount to a political boycott. Settlement goods make up only a small share of Israel-Canada commerce, and analysts have described the planned ban as largely symbolic.

Lantsman, who is Jewish and has been one of the Conservative Party’s most outspoken defenders of Israel, has repeatedly criticized the governing Liberals over rising antisemitism in Canada and over Ottawa’s posture toward Jerusalem. Sa’ar met Lantsman in Jerusalem in December 2025, when the two discussed Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists and their families and the surge in antisemitism in Canada and elsewhere.

The latest Canadian move adds to a series of disputes between Jerusalem and Western governments over the war that began with Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and over policy in Judea and Samaria. Sa’ar has in recent months publicly rebuked governments he accuses of applying pressure on Israel while offering what he calls one-sided measures against the Jewish state.

Ottawa has not said when the promised restrictions would take effect or how they would be enforced under the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.