London, Tel Aviv. The British government imposed economic sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. France and Canada joined the punitive measures. Criticism, however, came from the USA and especially from Israel.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is himself Jewish, justified the economic sanctions in the House of Commons. He accused Jewish settlers of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank: "The British Government shares the view that ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is taking place in parts of the West Bank, perpetrated by terrorist settlers, and that the Israeli Government has too often ignored this." Government members have made statements and taken measures to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.
“I announce today that the British government officially takes the view that the occupation is unlawful,” Miliband said, announcing a ban on imports of goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.
The government in London will take further measures against “companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for the development of settlements,” said the Foreign Minister. London also wants to stop all arms exports to Israel, which “contribute significantly to the occupation.”
The reaction from Israel followed immediately. “The allegations made by the Labor government’s foreign secretary in the British Parliament today were blatant lies,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said at a press conference this afternoon.
With the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sa'ar announced a series of countermeasures, most notably the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem. In addition, the British representative is excluded from the International Gaza Support Center (IGSC) to implement the US peace plan.
The British training program for Palestinian Authority security forces in Ramallah will also be ended. An entry ban was imposed on twelve Britons, including former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Diane Abbott.
Sa'ar accused the British government of working "systematically against the State of Israel." He also accused the Labor government of acting out of domestic political motives as the party conference took place at the end of the month. Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was under considerable pressure from the left wing in his own party because of his pro-Israel stance.
According to the Israeli foreign minister, the British government is trying to influence the outcome of the Israeli general election on October 27: “This is a blatant and completely unacceptable attempt by a foreign government to exert external influence in the middle of the election campaign.” According to current polls, the government coalition around Netanyahu will lose its majority with a total of 52 out of 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also commented on the sanctions and called for the expulsion of the British ambassador, who represents an “anti-Semitic government”. The far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, went further: In Spanish, he called on Platform X to recognize Argentina's sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and impose sanctions on Britain for its "occupation" of the islands. Argentine President Javier Milei retweeted the post.
In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote that the coordinated action against Israeli settlements represents "another turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution."
The three leaders said: "A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is crucial for peace, stability and security in the Middle East and beyond. It is in the fundamental national interest of Britain, France and Canada to protect and secure this outcome." The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway had previously branded the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank as a violation of international law.
The USA, on the other hand, is not taking part: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that the USA would not join the British initiative. Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, even warned of American “retaliation” and further “consequences” for Britain, suggesting that British access to the Israeli pharmaceutical sector could be at risk.
At the center of the conflict is the E1 project, which is intended to connect the city of Jerusalem with the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, around ten kilometers to the west. The Israeli government opened tenders for seven residential complexes with over a thousand residential units in the area last month, having already approved around 3,400 residential units in August 2025.
Critics, including former US administrations, have warned for years that the project would prevent territorial continuity between Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah, effectively making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. Finance Minister Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement, said he wanted to implement the E1 project precisely because it would undermine “the idea of a Palestinian state.”
