Ed Miliband stood in Parliament on Tuesday and said something that no British foreign secretary had said before. 'The British government agrees,' he told the House of Commons, 'that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank — perpetrated by settler terrorists.' He said this as a statement of government policy. He said it as someone who described himself as 'a proud Jew.' He said Britain could no longer simply call out injustice and suffering. Then he announced the ban.
The United Kingdom will ban the import of all goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Jewish neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. Britain will bar companies from providing construction, infrastructure, financing, real estate and advertising services to the settlements. The UK has formally adopted the International Court of Justice's 2024 advisory opinion: all Israeli settlement activity over the pre-1967 border is illegal. France and Canada made simultaneous announcements. The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway had already moved toward similar measures. Twelve countries in total announced coordinated action on Tuesday.
Israel's response was immediate and specific. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the measures stoked antisemitism against British Jews and were a politicised hostile action taken deliberately ahead of Friday's Jewish New Year. He said Israel would respond by closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem — the consulate that provides services to Palestinians. British representatives would be expelled from the International Gaza Support Centre. The British team training Palestinian Authority security forces would be terminated. Twelve British politicians would be barred from entering Israel. Ben-Gvir, the far-right public security minister, told Netanyahu to recognise Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands as a counter-measure. Israel's president called the ban 'a grave miscalculation.'
DiploPolis wrote about Andy Burnham's inheritance when he became prime minister in August — 'Not a Mandate. An Inheritance.' The piece described the most challenging foreign policy environment a British prime minister had faced in decades: the NATO relationship under strain, the Iran war's energy costs, Britain's name on an Iranian prison uniform list. The settlement ban, coordinated with France, Canada and ten other countries, is Burnham's first substantial foreign policy act. His Foreign Secretary said ethnic cleansing. Israel closed the consulate. Britain proceeded.
The consulate that is being closed served Palestinians in the occupied territories. It issued travel documents, provided consular assistance and operated as one of the few functional connections between Palestinians and the international system. It has served that function for decades. It is being closed because the British Foreign Secretary said the word that the Israeli government did not want said. The word is ethnic cleansing. The consulate is the price of saying it.
Miliband reflected on his own Jewish heritage in his parliamentary address. He said Israel's right to exist was not in question. He said what was being done in the West Bank was. The settlements are illegal under international law. The ICJ said so in 2024. Britain adopted that opinion on Tuesday. Israel closed the consulate. Twelve countries coordinated. Three of them are G7 members. The G7 that watched the Iran war from the sidelines has found its first coordinated position on the conflict. It is not about Iran. It is about the West Bank.
