It is a diplomatic clash between the United Kingdom and Israel. London has formalized the decision to sanction trade with Israeli settler settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, as announced in the House of Commons by the Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, in an act that marks a clear turning point for the Labor government of the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham compared to the previous one of Keir Starmer. Miliband accused Israel of "turning a blind eye" to ongoing "ethnic cleansing" in the West Bank. The announcement was followed by a joint statement condemning the occupation of settlers from 12 countries, including France, Canada and 9 other European states (but not Italy). The Israeli response was not long in coming. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar called Miliband's comments "scandalous and false", calling them "a blatant attempt to interfere in Israeli politics during the election campaign". The British consulate in Jerusalem closed. In London there was also the accusation of fueling "the anti-Semitism rampant in the world". No sanctions coming from the USA, as clarified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while admitting that there are "tensions in the West Bank".
British sanctions
“We have already suspended over 30 licenses for weapons used by the Israeli military in Gaza” and “this suspension remains in full force. We will now also refuse all license applications for weapons and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation, effectively a double ban against the sale of weapons,” Miliband announced, underlining that this provision “will remain in force as long as the Israeli occupation persists”. He then announced "actions against specific companies and individuals providing services such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion" in the West Bank. Also on the list of measures is a ban on companies advertising properties for sale in settlements and new sanctions against "extremist settlers", along with the extension of the global human rights regime to allow "faster action to discourage settlement expansion". The measures will take six to nine months to be developed and come into force.
Miliband: "Settler terrorism in the West Bank"
Miliband then formalized the definition of Israeli settlements as "illegal" entities under international law. Born in the United Kingdom to parents of Polish-Jewish origin fleeing from Nazism, he then claimed his Jewish roots and remembered his family members killed in the Holocaust, his ties with Israel and condemned all forms of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom, as well as the attack "by Hamas terrorists" on 7 October 2023. This, he explained, however, is not in contrast with his support "for the State of Palestine" in the framework of a peace founded on the "solution of two states". Then he spoke of the "traumatic" devastation in Gaza in recent years, the "unspeakable suffering" suffered by Palestinians in the Strip and "the terrorism of extremist settlers" in the West Bank. It therefore recognized the "war crimes" committed by Israel as proven, also opening up to a possible recognition of the crime of "genocide" should it be so established by international justice. Finally, Miliband also announced sanctions against the armed wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon, in addition to the additional ones inflicted by the previous Labor government on Iran and on the Pasdaran of Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
The front of the 12 countries against Israeli colonies
The trade sanctions and the condemnation against the Israeli colonies are put in black and white in a joint statement also with Canada and France, as already anticipated by the media rumors of the last few hours, and with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Some, starting from Dublin and Madrid, had already formally sanctioned the Israeli colonies on a commercial level. The statement reads that "the actions of the government of Israel are undermining any possibility of a two-state solution" based on the "peaceful" coexistence of an Israeli and a Palestinian state side by side. The document speaks of "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion". For this reason, it demands that Netanyahu's government "immediately" put an end to this process, ensuring that "the settlers are held accountable" for their crimes and "the accusations against the Israeli army are investigated" seriously. In conclusion, all 12 countries "confirm their intention to introduce national restrictions or support European ones against trade in products from settlements, which are illegal under international law", while announcing that they are "actively evaluating further measures".
France: "The West Bank is about to explode, stop trade with Israeli colonies"
“The West Bank is on the brink of explosion,” writes French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in X, announcing the sanctions on the colonies. Barrot speaks of "unbridled expansion of colonization, in violation of international law; surge in violence committed by extremist settlers against Palestinians; acts of terror denounced by the Israeli authorities themselves." A "deleterious" situation that "seriously violates the dignity of the Palestinian people" and "jeopardizes the security of Israel, to which France is inextricably linked", as well as compromising "the two-state solution, the only alternative to a permanent state of war". At the same time, it condemns "the terrorist attack of 7 October 2023 perpetrated by Hamas, the worst anti-Semitic massacre since the Shoah", and concludes by saying that "France cannot, through its trade, support a situation that threatens the security of both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as peace and stability in the region". Europe, he says, "must do the same".
Tajani: "Decisions on sanctions on settlers must be taken by the EU"
"I am always for the decisions that come from the European Union, even in commercial matters, otherwise there is a risk of distorting the internal market. The English are not part of the European Union: it is their choice, but decisions must always be taken at European level", said the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, commenting with journalists on the decision to sanction trade with Israeli settlers.
