In a crowded British Parliament session on Tuesday, Members of Parliament gathered to witness the government redefine its ties with Israel. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his cabinet ministers attentively listened as newly appointed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is of Jewish descent, announced a prohibition on trade with settlers from the occupied West Bank. Miliband disclosed that Canada and France would also implement similar measures. The announcement was met with cheers in the parliamentary chamber as Miliband highlighted that France and Canada would join Britain in banning the import of goods from illegal settlements.
The Foreign Secretary emphasized that various other nations, including the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, and Norway, have either imposed bans on such goods or are in the process of doing so. Moreover, countries like Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden have pledged their support for further action against Israel’s ongoing expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Miliband declared that the UK would take concrete steps against specific companies and individuals involved in activities such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate development for settlement expansion. He warned that those entities would face severe sanctions imposed by the UK government.
The decision to implement these sanctions came following Israel’s recent move to open tenders for the construction of 1,200 settler homes in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, which was deemed a violation of a longstanding boundary by Israel. The escalating violence in the West Bank also played a significant role in the UK’s decision to impose sanctions, as Miliband acknowledged the reported ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by settler extremists in certain areas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denounced Miliband’s statements as “outrageous lies” and announced retaliatory measures, including the expulsion of UK representatives from a joint military monitoring center in Gaza, termination of UK training for Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem, and barring selected UK officials and citizens from entering Israel due to their alleged involvement in anti-Israel and antisemitic activities.
The shift in the UK’s stance towards Israel had been foreshadowed months earlier. Prior to assuming office in July, Prime Minister Burnham had signaled a change in approach by expressing regret over the Labour Party’s initial response to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, acknowledging the need for improvement under his leadership.
