UK Rejects Israel’s ‘Damaging’ Retaliation Over Settlement Sanctions
Britain condemns Israel’s decision to close its Jerusalem consulate after London joined Western sanctions targeting trade with Israeli settlements over settler violence in the occupied West Bank
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Britain has rejected Israel’s retaliatory measures against London, describing the decision to close the UK consulate in Jerusalem as “regrettable and damaging” after Britain joined a group of Western countries imposing sanctions linked to Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the government had anticipated Israel could respond with punitive measures after seeing similar reprisals against other countries that imposed sanctions.
“We anticipated this might happen because we saw other countries, the Dutch, for example, who had announced sanctions, who had seen these reprisals from Israel. I think they’re regrettable and damaging,” Miliband told BBC Radio on Wednesday.
Israel on Tuesday ordered the closure of the British consulate after 12 countries, including Britain, Canada and France, announced measures targeting trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The sanctions followed a surge in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territory, where settlement expansion and settler violence have remained major sources of international concern.
Israel announces further measures
In addition to ordering the closure of the British consulate, Israel said it would expel British representatives from a center monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan for Gaza.
Israel also said it would block British training programs for Palestinian Authority security forces and impose a travel ban on 12 British citizens, most of them members of parliament.
The measures represent a further deterioration in relations between London and the Israeli government amid growing disagreements over Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and the war in Gaza.
Miliband rejected suggestions that the dispute would undermine intelligence and security cooperation between Britain and Israel.
“We have important intelligence and security relationships with Israel, and I’m confident they will continue,” he said, declining to provide further details.
He also stressed that Britain remained committed to cooperating with Israel over security threats posed by Iran.
“I was very clear yesterday that we do believe in working with our Israeli partners when it comes to the threats they face from Iran,” Miliband said.
UK defends sanctions
Miliband also rejected criticism from Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, who condemned the government’s sanctions.
Mirvis described the measures on Tuesday as “little more than political flag-bearing” and called their introduction “a truly dark day for British Jews.”
He warned that the sanctions would ultimately strengthen rather than weaken the extremism they were intended to address.
Britain has experienced several antisemitic attacks this year, including incidents targeting synagogues and other Jewish sites, adding to concerns among Jewish communities about rising antisemitism.
The British government has maintained that its measures are aimed at addressing Israeli settlement activity and settler violence rather than targeting Israel itself, while continuing to stress the importance of security cooperation with Israel.