"The middle powers must act together because, if we are not sitting at the table, we are going to be part of the menu." When Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke those words at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20, he became the leader of Western democracies' opposition to Donald Trump's values and presidency.
Today, Tuesday, more than nine months after the Canadian Prime Minister's speech, this "joint action" of the "middle powers" has burst onto the international scene with a decision that is irrelevant from an economic and strategic point of view, but of enormous weight if measured in terms of its psychological and political impact: Canada and thirteen European allies of the United States have announced the imposition - or the decision to impose - a trade embargo - with varying degrees depending on each country - on the acquisition of goods manufactured by Israeli entities and companies in West Bank. That territory was part of Jordan until 1967 and, since then, it has been occupied by the Jewish State. The government agreement of the different parties that make up the Executive in Israel proclaims the "extension of sovereignty" of that country - that is, the annexation - of that region.
The political change is more significant because the first country to announce it - and, precisely, the one that has taken the sanctions the furthest - is the United States' greatest ally in Europe, and one of the closest to Israel: the United Kingdom. And the person responsible for its design and implementation is, furthermore, a Jew whose father was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust: Ed Miliband, the Foreign Minister of that country. Miliband has also used very harsh words to refer to Israel's policy in the West Bank, which he has described as "ethnic cleansing", carried out with the aim of preventing the creation of a Palestinian state. As if that were not enough, he has spoken those words in a setting at the highest institutional level: the British Parliament. And he has done so with seven weeks left before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will run for re-election in complicated elections.
The measures announced by London are, furthermore, the most extensive of all and the only ones that have a political commitment behind them to be implemented. The British Government has declared that it will prohibit the import of any products manufactured in Jewish colonies established in territory taken from the Palestinian inhabitants in the West Bank, establish sanctions against companies and individuals that facilitate expansion through construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate activity, and prohibit advertising of these colonies.
It is a broad action plan, which will take between six and nine months to be reflected in British regulation, according to Miliband. Its scope is also problematic. Because although most of the economy of the Israeli colonies is agricultural, the ban on advertising, financing and aid in the development of infrastructure affects, although only tangentially, giants such as the Dutch travel and hospitality company Booking.com, and the American companies Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Expedia (owner of brands such as Vrbo, Hotels.com, Travelocioty, or Orbitz). All of these companies market hotel rooms in the West Bank.
The British position, therefore, has become crystal clear. That of other countries, not so much. Miliband has stated that Canada will adopt the same measures as the United Kingdom, without further details. France has announced that it is joining the measure, but without specific details or an application date. Spain and Ireland have also done so (the latter only in relation to the import of goods), despite the fact that both countries already have these policies in place, so they are simply saying that they are going to do what they are already doing. It is the same position as that of the Netherlands and Belgium, which already have their own measures. Norway also joins in with the plan, currently underway, to introduce sanctions on imports from the colonies, but without a date. Finally, Iceland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, and Sweden only announce that they will study the possibility of introducing similar measures either at national or EU level.
Germany, the most pro-Israel country in the EU - for obvious reasons, given the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis in World War II - is not part of the initiative. Berlin maintains a policy of collaboration with Tel Aviv that also covers defense, as evidenced by the fact that last week the German Navy successfully launched an Israeli-made Lora ballistic missile, with a range of 500 kilometers. Berlin plans to buy those weapons in 2027.
Israel's reaction has been direct, and has focused on the United Kingdom. The Government of Tel Aviv has announced the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem, the eastern part of which is precisely the only West Bank territory that Israel has already formally annexed to date. The ultranationalist Israeli Minister of Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, of the Jewish Power party, posted a message in Spanish on the social network In recent weeks, the Argentine president, Javier Milei, very close to Trumpo and Netanyahu, has once again claimed Argentine sovereignty over those islands, under British sovereignty, and the United States Government has declared that it is willing to "reexamine" its position in the controversy, which until now has always been unequivocally in favor of the United Kingdom.
The British position also has a domestic political aspect. Andy Burnham's Labor Government has managed to stop the hemorrhage of left-wing votes suffered by its predecessor, Keir Starmer, and the Palestinian issue is critical for that part of the electorate. The objective also passes through a specific territory: the St. Pancras railway station, where the Eurostar arrives, the train that connects the United Kingdom with the continent. St. Pancras. The station is in the St. Pancras and Holborn constituency, which Burnham's predecessor Keir Starmer represents in Parliament.
But Starmer is stepping down, meaning there will be an election in October to decide who is his successor. Burnham does not want to lose Holborn and St. Pancras, more than anything because that would mean a symbolic failure when she has not even been in government for a hundred days. For that reason, a pro-Palestinian turn in its foreign policy has political logic. Even more so when the rival from the left that Labor would have to defeat could be the leader of the 'Greens', Zack Polanski (also Jewish), a self-proclaimed 'eco-populist' whose party is frontally opposed to the policies of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Thus, with her turn against Netanyahu, Burnham is not only assessing a distancing from the United States. He is also scoring goals in domestic politics. The "joint action" of the "middle powers" passes, in the background, through the St. Pancras train station.
