Ed Miliband has accused the Israeli Government of turning a blind eye to “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” in the West Bank as he announced an import ban on goods from illegal settlements.
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In the strongest condemnation yet from the UK, the Foreign Secretary said the occupation of the West Bank was “unlawful”, and the action was “the least the people who face such suffering deserve”. Mr Miliband said imports of produce from Israeli settlements would be banned, which includes products like dates, mangoes, avocados, grapes and herbs, as well as olive oil and kosher wine.
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Companies and individuals providing services to settlers such as infrastructure, financing or real estate will be sanctioned. Arms licences that contribute to the occupation will be blocked, and advertising for illegal settlements in the UK will also be banned.
The move triggered an immediate backlash from the US and Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the closure of the UK’s consulate in Jerusalem and a ban on entry to Israel for 10 MPs as part of a package of retaliatory measures. He accused Mr Miliband of “outrageous lies” and claimed the UK government was “systematically working against the state of Israel”.
But Andy Burnham said his government will “continue to act in defence of our values”. He said: “Today, we are bringing forward targeted measures aimed not at the Israeli people, but in support of the two-state solution – and the prospect of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.
“The suffering of the Palestinian people is a scar on the conscience of the world. Innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed in Gaza. And there is still a humanitarian crisis, with far too little aid getting in. That’s why we are acting, and why Britain will continue to act in support of our values.”
The UK was among 12 countries to impose sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Some 770,000 settlers live in the occupied Palestinian territories, compared to around 270,000 at the time of the Oslo peace accords in 1993. More settlements have been approved in the last four years than in the past two decades.
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Mr Miliband accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of crossing a red line with the controversial E1 settlement – plans for 1,200 homes, which were put out to tender by Israel’s housing ministry last month. The 4.6 square mile site would effectively split the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
Last year, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the idea “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.
The Foreign Secretary said: “Let’s be clear what this means: the creation of a set of facts on the ground to make the two state solution unviable. And on top of official state policy, settler terrorism is rampant. The UN reports and average of six violent settler attacks against Palestinians per day this year, the highest on record.”
He went on: “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.”
Mr Miliband also announced plans to sanction Hezbollah’s financing arm in Lebanon, Al-Qard Al-Hassan. He said the UK would report Iran to the UN Security Council for nuclear violations, as well as re-imposing major sanctions on Tehran alongside with US and the EU.
The Foreign Secretary, who was flanked by Andy Burnham and First Secretary of State Louise Haigh, said there would be a “new approach” to relations with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and said that Keir Starmer’s administration had not done enough.
He said war crimes “appear to have been committed” in Gaza, but stopped short of describing it as a genocide, which he said was for the courts to decide.
Mr Miliband said he spoke as a proud British Jew and described his deep gratitude to Israel for offering sanctuary to his grandmother after she lost her husband and 60 other family members during the Holocaust. He recalled happy memories picking oranges on the kibbutz where his cousins lived in the 1970s.
“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 exists 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,” he said.
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, welcome the news, saying: “The actions announced today are an important step to protect the viability of a two-state solution, and to make clear to the Israeli government that this government opposes the expansion of settlements which are illegal under international law.”
However she raised concerns about the timescale, as the Government said it could take up to nine months to implement.
The move was also backed by Sir Edward Leigh, a long-serving member of Conservative Friends of Israel, who said the Israeli government “could quite easily differentiate between general trade and trade to these illegal settlements”.
Sir Edward, the Father of the House, said: “What is happening in the West Bank, is absolutely violent and egregious. It is worse than stopping the two-state solution, it is ethnic cleansing.”
But Shadow Foreign Secretary Tom Tugendhat said the plans won’t work, as the economies of Palestine and Israel are too closely connected. He added: “The Israeli election is in just seven weeks and many have argued, correctly, that this action will help the extreme candidates’ campaigns and not help those who are making the moderate argument for a united Israel.”
The Jewish Leadership Council warned the ban on goods from settlements “risks becoming a de facto boycott of Israel”.
And the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “As proud Brits who love our country, and who also have deep religious, cultural and family ties to Israel, we feel a deep sense of anguish about this breakdown in relations.
“We are also impacted directly by heightened rhetoric about the conflict, including policies that focus on the actions of the Israeli government and do not sufficiently address responsibilities of Palestinian leaders and malign actors in the region.”
Mr Burnham is understood to have informed Donald Trump of the plans in a warm and constructive call on Monday night, where No10 said the PM “stressed the importance of a two-state solution”.
But on Tuesday, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, warned the US could issue reprisals against the UK, and accused the Government of being gripped by “Jew hatred”. He said he was aware that the Foreign Secretary is Jewish when he made the remarks.
“I feel like it’s discrimination against the Israeli government. It’s a discrimination against the Jewish people,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. “It’s like throwing a stone and not having an idea of where it’s going to land. And I realise, look, the UK is a sovereign country; they can do what they want, but so is the US.”
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Mr Burnham signalled he would change the UK’s approach shortly before he became Prime Minister, when he apologised for Labour’s initial response to the war in Gaza. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham called for a ceasefire in 2023, but he said the Government had been too slow to demand an end to the fighting