Israel closes British consulate in East Jerusalem after UK leads 12-nation trade ban on settlement goods

Israel ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem after the United Kingdom led a coordinated effort by 12 governments to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the import ban on all goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday.

“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists,” he said during remarks at the House of Commons, referring to growing incidents of violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Eighty attacks carried out by Israeli settlers resulted in casualties or property damage between Aug. 11 and Aug. 24, according to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.

More than 1,040 Palestinians have been injured in such incidents across 2026, it reports, and 79 Palestinians, including 19 children, have been killed by either Israeli military personnel or settlers so far this year.

That adds to the escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since the terror attacks led by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostage. Since then, another 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.

Miliband said that the Israeli government had too often “turned a blind eye.”

Following the U.K.’s lead, Canada and France announced similar trade bans Tuesday. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden also joined those three countries in backing national or European restrictions, although their individual commitments vary.

In a joint statement, the 12 governments said Israel’s actions were undermining the prospect of a two-state solution. The statement calls for a halt on settlement expansions and accountability for settler violence.

What the Israeli settlement trade bans cover

The planned sanctions will ban the import of any goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but will not impact any goods from Israel.

Annual trade between the U.K. and Israel totaled around £6 billion ($8.1 billion) in the four quarters leading to Q2 2025, with goods imported by the U.K. from Israel valued at £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion). It is unclear how much of this trade originates from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, says that the settler economy produces mainly produce.

“You see a lot of exports of agricultural goods like dates and avocados to Europe. You also see a lot of export of herbs, so this is in part the basis of the economy,” he says.

A report published by Global Echo in June found that over 17% of the agricultural shipments to Europe that it analyzed contained settlement products.

Doyle also says some settlements have been expanding industrial zones which “contribute to the production of many different types of Israeli exports.”

And while the sanctions will not target goods from Israel, Doyle says that some products originating from settlements are instead labeled as originating from Israel.

European policy has previously sought clarity on the exact origin of Israeli products and whether goods have come from West Bank settlements.

“It's incumbent, therefore, on Israel to stop this, to bring itself in line with international law, and not export these products,” said Doyle in light of Tuesday’s sanctions.

But Hirschhorn argues that given how intertwined the economies of settlements and Israel are, it is difficult and unrealistic to separate the two.

“The lid to the container of hummus that's made in the settlement of Ariel is filled by hummus itself that was pumped out of a tube in the city of Ashkelon,” she suggests as an example.

“There's no real way necessarily to separate the goods here from the goods there,” she tells TIME, arguing that Tuesday’s sanctions will ultimately impact Israeli businesses beyond the initial scope of the ban.

“I’m not sure how an economic boycott of settler goods, no matter how specific or how tailored, would really achieve the policy goals that ultimately are desired here, which is the two-state solution,” she says.

Despite the potential unintended impact sanctions could have, Doyle argues that this is down to the Israeli government to resolve.

“It’s up to the state of Israel to uncouple its economy from the settlement economy,” he says. “Settlements do not lie within the sovereign borders of the territory of the State of Israel.”

Why West Bank settlements are illegal under international law

Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory, are illegal. It is also illegal for an occupying power to deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

In light of Article 49, and in line with its view that Israel occupies the West Bank, the U.N. deems settlements in the West Bank illegal. Miliband reaffirmed Tuesday that the U.K. observes this position on the matter, as well.

“To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: You will face the full force of U.K. sanctions,” said the Foreign Secretary, outlining that action will be taken against those who provide construction or financial support for expansions.

There are an estimated 620,000 Israeli settlers living across the West Bank, as well as in East Jerusalem, according to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Settlers “live on occupied territory, using resources, particularly water, which is so crucial that they're not entitled to, and they do that with the blessing, encouragement, and active support of the Israeli government,” says Doyle.

The Israeli government has also been enabling and in some instances supporting the expansion of settlements across the West Bank. Last month, it opened bidding for more than 1,200 homes in E1, a largely undeveloped area between East Jerusalem and the existing Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

The broader plan for roughly 3,400 homes was approved last year and championed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has previously been sanctioned by the British government and others.

Critics say that construction would connect Ma’ale Adumim more closely with Jerusalem while disrupting Palestinian territorial continuity between East Jerusalem and the northern and southern West Bank—further undermining the prospects for a viable two-state solution.

Arguments for and against the sanctions

Supporters say that the sanctions are significant because they turn longstanding international condemnation of Israeli settlements into economic action.

“There is a line drawn here that many actors in the international community are now prepared to say, ‘We're going to back up the criticism with action,’ and that ‘Israel, you have to stop massive expansion of settlers,’” Doyle says.

Others question whether broad restrictions on settlement trade effectively address the violence used to justify them.

“The sanctions first and foremost don't target the perpetrators of settler violence specifically,” says Sara Yael Hirschhorn, a professor of history and American Jewish studies at the University of Haifa, suggesting that only a small number of settlers actually carry out such violence.

Hirschhorn also notes that the timing of the measures, weeks before Israeli elections, could embolden far-right parties and hinder discussions around settler violence.

“All it does is stir the pot in the midst of an election campaign, and strengthens the Israeli right, rather than approaching these issues with more subtlety when a new Israeli government had been elected,” she says.

How Israel and the U.S. have responded

Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned that British sanctions on Israeli settlements “will prove to be a grave miscalculation.”

“Sanctions are not a solution—dialogue is,” said Herzog. “Step away from the dead-end of sanctions and boycotts, and turn toward constructive dialogue and toward cooperation.”

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also called on the British consulate in East Jerusalem, that works with the Palestinian Authority, to be closed.

“This must be Israel's resolute response to British audacity,” he said.

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he did not know what “sanctions, repercussions or retaliations” might follow from Washington in response to the U.K.

Israel has also suspended the British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank and it has barred an NGO director and 11 elected representatives in the U.K. from entering Israel.

Among those denied entry is Labour lawmaker Richard Burgon, who has backed accusations of genocide put against Israel for its conduct in Gaza.

“The decision by the Israeli government to sanction me today will not intimidate me into silence,” said Burgon in response to the move. “I will continue to do what is right, speak out in defense of international law and stand up for justice for the Palestinian people.”