Britain’s government on Sept. 8 announced sanctions on trade from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a minister has indicated, sparking an angry backlash from Israel and the United States.
The move would signal a toughening of the U.K.’s stance on Israel under new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who entered Downing Street in July after Keir Starmer stepped down.
But it immediately caused friction with allies the U.S. and Israel, with America’s ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee calling the decision “irrational” and Israel threatening retaliatory action.
Huckabee told BBC , “I think without a doubt there will be” a reaction, including at the level of individual states in the U.S.
This could have a “huge economic impact on British businesses,” he said, explaining some could be banned from doing business in certain states.
The move follows weeks of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the illegally occupied territory that some western governments fear threatens the two-state solution.
Government minister Pat McFadden said Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband would make a statement to parliament laying out “measures specifically targeted at the expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law in the West Bank.”
He told Sky News that the changes, on which he provided no further detail, would be motivated by “the idea of keeping alive this possibility of seeing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
“I think it’s also important to say that Israel is an important trading partner for the U.K. This isn’t intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods,” McFadden added.
U.K. government ministers have suggested recently that goods coming out of the illegal settlements could be subject to trade restrictions as part of the changes.
Trade between the U.K. and the Occupied Palestinian Territories was around only $51 million in 2025, according to the government, implying the move could be largely symbolic.
Critics have also said it could be difficult to distinguish goods from the West Bank from those from the rest of Israel.
Miliband, son of Jewish refugees to Britain, vowed last week to announce a “comprehensive” reset of policy towards Israel.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads a far-right party that advocates the annexation of the entire West Bank, called for the expulsion of Britain’s ambassador to Israel.
And Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the sanctions would “fall on the wrong side of history.”
