{"id":618571,"date":"2026-09-08T20:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618571\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T20:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:46:12","slug":"israel-closes-uk-consulate-over-west-bank-sanctions-row-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618571\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel closes UK consulate over West Bank sanctions row \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel<\/a> has announced a series of countermeasures against London after British foreign secretary Ed Miliband announced in parliament that the UK<\/a> would ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Miliband accused \u201csettler terrorists\u201d of carrying out \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d and the government of Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a> of attempting to undermine the possibility of a two-state solution by authorising a new settlement project.<\/p>\n

The decision is the clearest shift in British foreign policy since Andy Burnham<\/a> became prime minister.<\/p>\n

It was co-ordinated with Canada<\/a> and France<\/a>, whose foreign ministers issued a joint statement with the UK promising \u201cnational measures\u201d to ban trade in settlement goods, and supporting other nations that have done so, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday marks the beginning of a new approach,\u201d Miliband told the House of Commons, adding that the British government agreed that there has been ethnic cleansing of Palestinians<\/a> in areas of the West Bank. \u201cAll too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a map that shows the planned E1 settlement project. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP <\/p>\n

Milliband said he made the announcement as a \u201cproud British Jew\u201d who was \u201cunwavering\u201d in his support for the state of Israel. He added, however, that the UK had concluded that the occupation was unlawful in line with a ruling of the International Court of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The development sparked a furious response from Israel which announced a series of countermeasures include closing the British consulate in Jerusalem; ending British activity to train Palestinian security forces; and barring entry to British lawmakers and citizens who reject Israel\u2019s existence, including MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Hannah Spencer.<\/p>\n

Calling the accusations made by Miliband \u201coutrageous and false\u201d, foreign minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar described the UK\u2019s sanctions on settlements as \u201cblatant interference\u201d in Israel\u2019s upcoming election. <\/p>\n

He accused Britain of ignoring \u201cPalestinian terrorism\u201d and said the sanctions would also directly harm Palestinians, including tens of thousands who work in Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n

Sa\u2019ar said the British government\u2019s measures against Israel over the past two years \u2013 including sanctions on ministers and barring Israel from participating in a defence exhibition \u2013 had contributed to rising anti-Semitism in the UK.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why Andy Burnham is taking on Israel over the West BankOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Israel had been bracing itself for the British foreign policy reset but was taken by surprise when the foreign ministers of Ireland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden joined Britain on Tuesday, issuing a joint statement on the two-state solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government of Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence and investigate allegations against Israeli forces,\u201d the foreign ministers\u2019 statement said.<\/p>\n

The countries said they intended to \u201cimpose restrictions on trade with settlements considered illegal under international law.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sa\u2019ar warned that Israel will respond if other countries follow the British example and introduce sanctions.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the British decision a \u201cserious mistake\u201d, saying it would strengthen extremist voices in Israel in advance of next month\u2019s election and \u201cgive encouragement to Hamas and the terrorist organisations\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he also criticised the Netanyahu government for being caught by surprise.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Can Netanyahu win back Trump as pressure mounts in advance of election?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a week, the government has been preparing us for sanctions from Britain, and then it turns out there are another 10 important countries that have joined it and no one knew. Didn\u2019t they wake him up?\u201d he said, in a reference to Netanyahu\u2019s claim that security officials did not wake him up on the morning of the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.<\/p>\n

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Netanyahu to recognise Argentina\u2019s claim to the Falkland Islands and sanction Britain over its \u201coccupation\u201d while far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the expulsion of Britain\u2019s ambassador to Israel.<\/p>\n

The human rights watchdog Peace Now welcomed the British move, saying the settlements endanger Israel\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is good that Britain and other countries make the necessary distinction between sovereign Israel and the settlement and outpost enterprise beyond the green line and are acting against annexation and settler terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel has announced a series of countermeasures against London after British foreign secretary Ed Miliband announced in parliament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85530,10748,289,1814,42,45076,3410,43,4268,40,38,41,39,1192,303,27129],"class_list":["post-618571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andy-burnham","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-canada","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-international-court-of-justice","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}