Britain has announced an import ban on goods and some services related to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, prompting an unprecedented diplomatic response from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
France and Canada have joined a ban on trade with settlements considered illegal under international law, following similar actions by the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced in Parliament on Tuesday that the UK government will also impose new sanctions on organizations involved in building and financing settlements in the territory and extend a freeze on some arms sales to Israel.
He accused Jewish settlers of “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in parts of the territory.
Netanyahu’s far-right government retaliated by immediately closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem that serves Palestinian interests, banning a dozen British parliamentarians from entering Israel, including Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, and expelling British officials from the US-led coordination center for the post-war Gaza Strip.
The tit-for-tat moves have highlighted the erosion of UK-Israel relations, with bilateral ties at their weakest in decades.
But the moves underscore the growing isolation of the Israeli government as even its traditional Western partners step up condemnation of its actions against the Palestinians.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday criticized Miliband’s statement as an “outrageous lie” and a “moral distortion” and said Britain had “no chance of success” in changing Israel’s policy.
The steps announced by Andy Burnham’s administration, if fully implemented, would be the toughest sanctions London has imposed against Israel so far.
Unveiling a tougher British stance on arms sales to Israel, Miliband said the UK would now refuse all applications for arms licenses and other exports that “substantially contribute” to the occupation.
Settlement advertising will also be banned in the UK, Miliband said as he announced new sanctions against settlers who support or incite violence against Palestinian communities.
Legislation to implement these measures will be introduced within six to nine months, he added.
Turning to the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s war against Hamas has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe, Miliband said the UK’s position was to “support accountability for what happened” and added that war crimes “appear to have been committed”.
The UK initially strongly supported Israel’s right to defense following the Hamas attack on the country on 7 October 2023. But it has become increasingly critical of Israel’s behavior as the Palestinian death toll has risen sharply and the humanitarian crisis has deepened.
Miliband said the question of whether acts of genocide had been committed in the Gaza Strip should be decided by the court.
Britain has also become increasingly concerned about the escalation of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and the dramatic expansion of settlements under Netanyahu’s government.
Last month, Israel issued tenders to build about 1,200 Jewish housing units in the E1 area of the West Bank, which would halve the area and further undermine still-lingering hopes for a Palestinian state.
The UK’s position has already drawn sharp criticism from senior US and Israeli officials. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, warned of US “retaliation” as well as other “consequences” for the UK, such as its access to Israel’s pharmaceutical sector.
Miliband repeated Burnham’s claim that the previous Labor administration under Sir Keir Starmer “didn’t do enough” and that the government believed there had been “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank by Israeli “terrorist” settlers.
“I understand the gravity of these words, but the truth is the least that people who face such suffering deserve,” he said.
He accused the Israeli government of turning a blind eye and said some members of the administration supported the forced displacement of Palestinians.
The UK government’s “official view” was that the occupation of the West Bank was illegal after remaining silent on the issue of legality since the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling.
Miliband stressed that the UK would continue to support “important and valuable trade” with Israel and defended Israel’s right to exist.
But he added that Britain remained committed to a two-state solution, which would become “unviable” under E1 settlement expansion plans.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat accused ministers of “pursuing policies that the Foreign Office knows will not work.” He condemned the illegal settlements but warned that “the Palestinian and Israeli economies are too interconnected” for a targeted trade ban to be effective.
Many Labor MPs applauded Burnham’s proposal to toughen the UK’s approach to Israel after the party lost voters to Greens and independent candidates over the issue. However, some Labor MPs warned the move could fuel domestic anti-Semitism and aid ultranationalists in Israel ahead of next month’s Knesset elections.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said: “This is a dark day indeed for British Jews,” adding that the UK government’s actions would “further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews.”
Expressing a “deep sense of shame” at events in the Palestinian territories, Miliband said “unimaginable trauma and suffering” had occurred in the Gaza Strip over the past three years. “Death, destruction and dehumanization on a horrifying scale” have become “a stain on the world’s conscience,” he said.
He warned that treating Jews anywhere in the world as responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is “anti-Semitism, plain and simple.”
Miliband began his statement by noting that he was a “proud British Jew” who felt “deepest gratitude” to Israel for giving his grandmother a home after his grandfather and 60 other family members were killed at the hands of the Nazis.
Palestinian Ambassador to Britain Hussam Zomlot welcomed the measures, saying they demonstrated “that international law must be respected and applied without fear or favor, and that violations must have consequences.”