For one of its first foreign policy moves, the administration of U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. France and Canada joined the U.K. in its move. Together these three countries issued a joint statement with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden confirming their intention to introduce new restrictions on trade with illegal settlements.
The U.K. government has said the move is to keep alive the possibility of a ‘two State solution’. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the U.K. House of Commons that Canada and France have joined the U.K. in banning such trade.
Mr. Miliband said that a new sanctions regime on illegal settlements would be in place within six to nine months. The sanctions would also include construction, infrastructure financing and real estate companies that assist in settlements. Mr. Miliband announced that the official view o the British government was that the settlements were unlawful, as he called out settler violence and the record number of settlements built under the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last four years.
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Mr. Miliband said the U.K. continued to support trade with ‘Green Line Israel’ (i.e., the 1949 Armistice border line) and warned against antisemitism in Britain.
The economic impact of the sanctions, however, is likely to be minimal. Only a small proportion of the $8.12 billion in bilateral trade between the U.K. and Israel originates in the West Bank
Israel had issued tenders for 1,200 settlements in the so-called E1 area, east of Jerusalem. Such a settlement would split the west bank into two parts, making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible. East Jerusalem and the West Bank are considered occupied territory under international law. The idea of ‘E1’ was mooted in 1990 but has been held in abeyance due to pressure from other countries.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is set to announce the ban in the House of Commons on Tuesday (September 8, 2026). Prior to being appointed Prime Minister, Mr. Burnham had apologised for his predecessor Keir Starmer’s and Labour’s early position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying the party needed to do better.
Israeli President said the U.K. decision would fall “on the wrong side of history” as he accused the U.K. of interference in Knesset elections which are at the end of October.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee called the move an “irrational action” in a BBC Radio 4 interview.
Mr. Huckabee suggested that British business could suffer in some U.S. States, such as Florida, which, he said, had laws that could result in a ban on business with Britain, if the sanctions went through.
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Earlier this week, Mr. Huckabee accused the British government of “Jew hate” on social media.
Asked whether he was aware that Mr. Miliband himself was Jewish, Mr. Huckabee drew a parallel saying there were “some Americans who don’t like America very much”.
In Tuesday’s (September 8, 2026) remarks, Mr. Miliband described himself as a “proud British Jew”, who had the “deepest gratitude” for Israel for housing his grandmother after she lost her husband and 60 other family members at the hands of the Nazis.