Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the UK government’s “new approach” to Israel in the House of Commons on Tuesday. (Alamy
4 min read08 September
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told MPs the UK will treat Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as unlawful under international law, saying that the government will take a “new approach” to dealing with the state.
In a House of Commons statement on Tuesday, Miliband said there was a “deeply painful contrast” between the UK government’s commitment to a two-state solution in the Middle East, and “the reality on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank” as he announced a major reset in the UK’s relationship with Israel.
The most significant elements of Miliband’s announcements included the UK government recognising that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was unlawful; an import ban from illegal settlements in the West Bank; and a ban on arms licenses that “materially contribute” to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank.
Other announcements included sanctions against those those financing or building illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank; a ban on advertising illegal settlement properties; and further sanctions for individuals involved in promoting settler violence in the West Bank.
The decision to end the trade of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank joins similiar action from around a dozen Western countries including France, Spain and Ireland.
The steps announced by Miliband are likely to be supported by a large majority of Labour MPs who had been calling on the government to take a harder line with the Israeli government.
However, they will put further strain on the UK relationship with Israel, with the latter announcing on Tuesday that the UK’s consulate in Jerusalem will be closed and nearly a dozen UK MPs banned from entering Israel in retaliation. The Donald Trump US administration is also expected to oppose the UK move.
Miliband told MPs it was the position of the British government that “there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank” and that it was being “perpetrated by settler terrorists”. He stopped short of calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, stating “we support legal processes to determine this”.
Miliband, who Andy Burnham appointed Foreign Secretary when he entered No 10 in July, said was “no contradiction” between his support of an Israeli state, a Palestinian state, and his own Jewishness as the son of Holocaust survivors.
He added that the Labour government’s disagreement is with the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and not with the people of Israel.
Miliband said the Burnham government was taking a “new approach” to dealing with the Israeli government, admitting that the previous Labour administration had “not done enough in the face of what is happening” in the Middle East.
“My parents came here as Jewish refugees and found sanctuary and a country that stood up for the rule of law, freedom, and self-determination,” he told MPs.
“Those are the values this government is standing up for today, and I truly believe that the vast majority of the British people, including in our communities with ties to the region, are united in their desire to see humanitarian suffering end and all sides commit to a durable peace process.
“And just as we want Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side, so… we have to live out those values in Britain.”
He added that there will never be “stability in the Middle East without a two-state solution”, and that if the UK fails to “stand up for the values that this country has long held and fought for, we lose credibility and influence in the world”.
Miliband said that 65 Palestinian communities totalling around 4,000 Palestinians had been expelled from their homes in the West Bank since 2023, “due to settler violence and state actions”.
Responding to Miliband’s statement, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar told journalists at a press conference that the announcements were “outrageous” and false” and said the UK government was a “hostile Labour government that is consistently operating against the state of Israel”.
During the press conference, Sa’ar said that Israel will close the UK consulate in Jerusalem in retaliation to the measures announced by Miliband, and pledged Israel will “take retaliatory measures based on our discretion”.
A group of MPs who are staunchly critical of the Israeli regime, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and all five Green MPs, have been banned from entering the country, Israel has also announced.