The UK has announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing Israel’s government of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by settlers.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the move marked the “beginning of a new approach” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which “not only calls out injustice and suffering but acts”.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by accusing him of spreading an “outrageous lie” and announced counter-measures including shutting the UK’s consulate in East Jerusalem.
The UK sanctions will ban settlement goods but also act against companies and individuals providing services for settlement expansion.
The sanctions were launched alongside France and Canada, which in a joint statement with the UK said the action “marks a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution”.
Settlements are illegal under international law, and there has been a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers in recent months.
In a statement to MPs, Miliband said: “The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.
“And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
He said ethnic cleansing was defined by the UN as a “purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent means another ethnic or religious group from certain areas”.
Miliband said the official view of the government was that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank was unlawful because of the “entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements”.
He said this position, which is in line with a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, should be reflected in the UK’s “economic relationship” with the occupied West Bank.
As a result, over the next six to nine months, the UK will introduce “a new comprehensive sanctions regime”, he said.
The foreign secretary also announced a ban on advertising illegal West Bank settlements in the UK.
“The sanctions regime will target illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel,” Miliband added.
Later on Tuesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the targeted measures were “aimed not at the Israeli people, but in support of the two-state solution”.
Announcing the closure of the consulate – which represents the UK government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – Israel’s Foreign Minister Saar said at a press conference: “We know that we have many friends in Britain.
“Unfortunately, we have a hostile Labour government that is consistently operating against the State of Israel, and it has left us no choice but to respond to its hostile actions.”
He added that 11 UK MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and all five sitting Green Party MPs, would be banned from entering Israel, accusing them of “antisemitic and anti-Israel activity”.
The UK also issued a joint statement with 11 other countries; France, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
It said the group was unequivocally committed to the two-state solution and would introduce national measures or support European restrictions on trading goods with West Bank settlements.
The UK announcement comes after Israel opened up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area – a strategically important area east of Jerusalem. The plans have drawn widespread international condemnation. Israel has held off on plans to build in the area for decades under global pressure.
Miliband told the Commons the UK’s “new approach” was necessary because plans for the E1 development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.
Elsewhere, he said the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the Gaza war, carried “terrible echoes of the centuries of persecution of the Jewish people” and stressed Israel had “the right to protect its people and defend its territory”.
However, he added, “that cannot justify what has happened in Gaza”.
He said: “International humanitarian law imposes clear rules for states fighting wars, including to ensure access to food and medical supplies, to avoid mass displacement of civilians, and to avoid the targeting of civilians. Serious and international violations of this law, if proven, amount to war crimes.
“What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), have been examined in depth by a number of organisations, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
“The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, and we support legal processes to determine this.”
He added it was up to international courts to determine if Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s leaders have consistently rejected allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. They have insisted that Israeli forces have operated in accordance with international law.
Miliband began his statement to the Commons by referring to his Jewish roots and childhood experiences of visiting Israel, as well as recent antisemitic attacks in the UK.
He described himself as “a proud British Jew” and outlined his steadfast support for the state of Israel.
He said: “My personal story and that of thousands of British Jews is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or around the world who questions Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people – you are wrong, and we will call you out whenever you engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel.”
But the UK’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said it was a “truly a dark day for British Jews”, saying the sanctions were “little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric” that would embolden people who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed “deep regret” over Tuesday’s announcement, and urged both the UK and Israeli governments to “avoid pursuing what appear to be party interests over national interests”.
In an interview with Jewish News after speaking in the Commons, Miliband said “any person who targets British Jews because of the actions of the Israeli government is an antisemite in my view”, a position which he said was “shared across the House of Commons”.
He said the response from the Israeli government had been “deeply regrettable”.
Responding in the Commons, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat claimed ministers were “enacting policies that the Foreign Office knows won’t work”.
He agreed that illegal settlements were wrong and “some Israeli ministers have indulged in hateful propaganda and incitement” but added “this isn’t about Israel alone and it certainly isn’t about reducing the complexity of the region to a single sentence. Sadly, the government is in the process of doing just that”.
Israel’s foreign minister Saar said on Tuesday evening he had spoken with Tugendhat and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, thanking them “for their firm opposition to the hostile Labour government’s announcement today and its series of anti-Israel policies since taking office”.
He also said British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel would be removed, and UK activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria – how the Israeli government refers to the West Bank – would be terminated.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, the country’s President Isaac Herzog said the decision would “fall on the wrong side of history”, adding: “In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation.”
Herzog said the move would directly harm Palestinians and urged foreign governments to turn towards “constructive dialogue” and cooperation, adding “sanctions are not a solution”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the White House had no comment on the joint action, adding that “obviously we’re not going to do what the UK did”.
Earlier, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee earlier told the BBC that the US – Israel’s most powerful ally – would “without a doubt” respond to the expected sanctions, warning of a “huge economic impact on British businesses”.
He suggested action could be taken by individual US states as well as at a central, federal level.
The Palestinian presidency welcomed the UK’s decision, saying it was “an important step towards confronting Israel’s colonial system and its violations against the Palestinian people”.
