UK Targets Israeli Settlement Goods as Israel Says It Will Close British Consulate in Jerusalem

The UK announced plans on Tuesday to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and restrict services linked to them, while Israel said it would close the British consulate in Jerusalem in response.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the measures were aimed at settlement expansion and violence that Britain says are undermining prospects for a Palestinian state. The decision followed growing British concern over settlement activity and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel's response went beyond the consulate announcement, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar saying British representatives would be removed from a joint military centre monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and UK training for Palestinian Authority security forces would end.

Israeli Settlement Goods Ban Extends Beyond Imports

Miliband said the UK will prohibit imports of goods from Israeli settlements and take action against specific companies and individuals providing construction, infrastructure, financing or real-estate services for settlement expansion.

The Government will also ban the advertising of illegal settlements in the UK. The legislation is expected to be in place within six to nine months.

'I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets,' Miliband told lawmakers.

The economic impact is expected to be limited because settlements account for only a small volume of exports, largely agricultural goods. Britain, France and Canada announced coordinated measures that they linked to preserving prospects for a two-state solution.

In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said settlement expansion and settler violence 'pose a direct and urgent threat' to that goal. They said they had chosen to act 'before it is too late'.

Ban Comes Amid Rising West Bank Tensions

Settlement construction has expanded under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which opposes the creation of a Palestinian state and regards the West Bank as part of the Jewish people's biblical and historical homeland. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war.

Britain and much of the international community consider the settlements illegal. The UK has also raised concern over Israel's E1 settlement project, which Britain says could divide the West Bank and make a contiguous future Palestinian state harder to establish.

Miliband said the British government agrees that 'there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists'. He cited 'houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes'.

The existing suspension of more than 30 arms export licences used by the IDF in Gaza will remain in place. Miliband also said the UK would refuse all licence applications for arms and other exports that 'materially contribute to the occupation' of Palestinian territories.

Israeli Settlement Goods Measures Trigger Israeli Response

Sa'ar condemned Britain's action as 'despicable' and announced further retaliatory steps. Israel also barred 12 people, including 11 British MPs and a lawyer, from entering the country, saying they were 'involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity'.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the ban 'a grave miscalculation' and said it would amount to 'gross interference' in Israel's democratic elections. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also criticised the policy, calling it 'discrimination against the Jewish people' and warning that the UK could face 'repercussions or retaliations' from the United States.

The British government, meanwhile, presented the measures as part of a wider effort to preserve the possibility of a two-state settlement. Britain recognised Palestinian statehood last year, and Miliband said Tuesday that the UK now regards Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and not only the settlements, as unlawful.

The policy has also drawn concern at home. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called it 'a dark day for British Jews', while Conservative foreign affairs spokesman Tom Tugendhat warned that making Israel a pariah could deepen sectarian divisions in Britain and increase the risk of antisemitic violence.

Miliband said he was speaking 'as a proud British Jew' and as a supporter of Israel. 'Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the U.K. has unshakable bonds,' he said. 'Our argument is with the conduct of its government.'