{"id":625514,"date":"2026-09-24T02:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T02:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625514\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T02:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T02:18:17","slug":"us-drafted-a-memo-condemning-uk-over-west-bank-sanctions-the-white-house-shelved-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625514\/","title":{"rendered":"US drafted a memo condemning UK over West Bank sanctions. The White House shelved it."},"content":{"rendered":"

The document dated September 8, previously unreported and which two sources \u200bsaid was driven by David Milstein, an influential aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, proposed that Rubio describe the countries’ actions as a \u200cseries of hostile measures against Israel that contribute to antisemitism.<\/p>\n

“These tactics unacceptably draw from the playbook of the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement,” the draft document, reviewed by Reuters, said.<\/p>\n

The statement was never released.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>\"<\/p>\n

Differences of opinion on the American right regarding Israel. Trump and Huckabee<\/p>\n

(Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP)<\/p>\n

Instead, speaking to reporters on September \u200b8 in Florida before traveling to Latin America, Rubio refrained from outright criticism of the decision or any particular country.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, we\u2019re not going to do what the \u200bUK did. We saw their announcement today, but I don\u2019t have any comment on it right now,” Rubio said.<\/p>\n

The episode illustrates a \u2060widening divide between the White House and Trump’s senior diplomats in Israel about how best to respond to the expansion of Israeli settlements under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing \u200bgovernment.<\/p>\n

It also highlights a growing ideological split within the American right over support for Israel, with polling showing younger Republicans holding an increasingly unfavorable opinion of Washington’s closest Middle East \u200bally.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump earlier this year expressed his opposition to settlement expansion<\/a>, a growing source of friction with Israel’s Arab neighbors, but his administration has put little pressure on Israel to change its policy.<\/p>\n

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announces sanctions on Israel over West Bank settlements<\/p>\n

(Video: British Foreign Office)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That has at times put him at odds with Huckabee, a Baptist minister who is a staunch supporter of settlements and who refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, \u200ba term used by the Israeli government but not formally adopted by the U.S.<\/p>\n

Huckabee’s aide Milstein last year advocated that the U.S. impose sanctions on the entire International Criminal \u200bCourt to convince it to drop war crimes charges against Israeli leaders over the Gaza war – a measure the Trump administration has yet to deploy.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from Reuters, a senior U.S. \u200cofficial said \u2060the draft statement was not prepared in consultation with the State Department or White House.<\/p>\n

The U.S. embassy referred Reuters’ questions, including requests for comment from Huckabee and Milstein, to the State Department. The White House did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.<\/p>\n

US public support for Israel questioned<\/p>\n

U.S. public backing for Israel has fallen<\/a> since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16% and 20% when \u200bthe question was first asked in 2017.<\/p>\n

In December last year, Trump said that \u200bhe and Netanyahu, whose government has overseen a rapid expansion of settlements, did not fully agree on the West Bank following a \u200bmeeting with the Israeli leader. \u2060That September, Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the territory.<\/p>\n

Huckabee has publicly condemned the \u200bviolence and called for perpetrators to be prosecuted. He has also said violent settlers were a minority and do not represent the wider settler community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The document dated September 8, previously unreported and which two sources \u200bsaid was driven by David Milstein, an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-625514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}