Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has announced counter sanctions following Ed Miliband’s decision to ban imports from illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Sa’ar confirmed Israel would be closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem and removing British representatives from the International Gaza Support Centre.
“I have decided, as stated with the agreement of Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the following Israeli countermeasures. One, the closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“United Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, will always remain the capital of Israel and is under its full sovereignty. Any activity by a foreign state within it must be carried out with the consent of the State of Israel.”
Sa’ar added that British activities to train Palestinian forces would also be stopped and said 12 British elected officials who he said were involved in “anti-Israel activity” will be denied entry to the country.
The full list is MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Naz Shah, Diane Abbott, Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, John McDonnell, Richard Burgeon, Adrian Ramsey and director of Riverway to the Sea, Fahad Ansari.
“We will also take retaliatory measures based on our discretion. The message to any government that seeks to harm us is clear,” Sa’ar said.
“Those who act against Israel, Israel will act against them, and they will lose up their influence and relevance in the region.”
Sa’ar said the measures were not aimed against British people, but rather the government.
He said: “We have nothing against the British people. We know that we have many friends in Britain.
“Unfortunately, a hostile Labour overnment is in office, systematically acting against the State of Israel, and it has left us with no choice but to finally respond to its hostile actions.”
Earlier on Tuesday, British foreign secretary Miliband announced a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories despite facing backlash.
Speaking to MPs, Miliband said “ethnic cleansing” is being carried out by “settler terrorists” and accused the Israeli government of turning a “blind eye”.
He also said that France and Canada will join the UK in imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
“Above all, we say Britain is not silent in the face of deep injustice and nor is it powerless,” he said.
Miliband said the UK, France and Canada are joining other countries, which have already either banned goods, or are in the process of doing so. These countries include the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said a two-state solution “is critical for peace”.
It said: “A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is critical for peace, stability and security in the Middle East and beyond. It is a fundamental national interest for the UK, France and Canada to protect and secure this outcome.
“Systematic settlement expansion in the West Bank, including the Government of Israel’s latest decision to progress the E1 settlement, as well as the dramatic increase in settler violence, pose a direct and urgent threat to that vision for peace.
“One year ago, we recognised the State of Palestine. The time has come to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late.”
The move risks drawing criticism from Washington, Israel’s closest ally. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday the nation “don’t want to see anything destabilising in the West Bank” but would not be following the UK’s move.
“Obviously we’re not going to do what the UK did, but I don’t have any comment on it. We share the goal of stability, and don’t want to see uptick in violence,” Rubio said.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the sanctions “irrational”.
“I feel like it’s discrimination against the Israeli government. It’s a discrimination against the Jewish people,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
He added: “I also would tell you that I don’t know if they have thought it through. It’s like throwing a stone and not having an idea of where it’s going to land. And I realise, look, the UK is a sovereign country; they can do what they want, but so is the US.”
Miliband told MPs: “The British Government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists.
“The Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and, worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
Setting out his plans, Miliband said he does so as “a proud British Jew” and announced further sanctions to Hezbelloah’s financing arm, Al Qad Al Hassan.
The foreign secretary insisted that the sanctions were related to the government of Israel and not the people.
He said: “Our argument is not with the people of Israel with whom the UK has unshakable bonds. Our argument is with the conduct of its government.
“I also want to say emphatically to people in Britain and indeed across the world, holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is anti-semitism, plain and simple.”
Tensions in the West Bank have flared in recent months, with Israeli settlers involved in violent disputes with Palestinians.
Paramilitary attacks by Israeli citizens on Palestinian homes and schools have drawn widespread criticism, even from Washington and Benjamin Netanyahu himself.
Labour lost the support of many of its left-wing backers under Keir Starmer over his initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel in 2023.
Burnham who was among senior party figures who had called for a ceasefire by late October that year, had previously suggested he would change the government’s approach to the conflict soon after coming to office in July.
He has voiced particular concerns about the E1 settlement, where Israel has given final approval for a controversial project that would effectively separate the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem.
Reactions across Westminster
Miliband himself said that his own government had not done enough on this issue and pledged a new approach.
He told MP’s: “We should always be proud that it was a Labour Government that took the historic step of recognising the state of Palestine, but the Prime Minister is right to say that the Labour government has not done enough in the face of what is happening.”
Some Labour MPs, including those from the group Labour Friends of Israel have expressed their concerns in relation to potential antisemitism in the UK as a result of the measures.
Reactions across the globe
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the expulsion of the British ambassador.
“Expel the British ambassador tonight!” he wrote on X on Monday evening.
“We will not be a doormat trampled by an antisemitic government, in a country conquered by radical Islam, trying to save itself from economic and social decline by attacking Jews and the State of Israel.
“The British Mandate in the Land of Israel is over.”
Trump is yet to respond in an official capacity, but Burnham spoke with the president on Monday over the sanctions.
Florida Congressman, Randy Fine has hit out at the government and said that his state will stop business with the UK as a result.
He said: “Florida is one of Britain’s largest trading partners. They should understand that their vanity project in support of Muslim terror could cost them billions of dollars.”
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