British Jewish community has warned about 'unintended consequences' of sanctionspublished at 11:30 BST

11:30 BST

Daniel Wittenberg
Senior field producer

Britain’s Jewish community is small but politically diverse.

According to the latest polling, a majority disapprove of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and historically there has been some opposition to the expansion of West Bank settlements. But that does not mean there is a consensus within the community over how Britain should respond.

After a meeting with Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner in Downing Street last week, a number of organisations representing British Jews issued a joint statement expressing “significant concerns about the unintended consequences” of potential sanctions on Israeli settlements.

They warned that “broad, un-targeted” measures could place strain on the Jewish community’s connection to religious and cultural sites in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall.

Their main criticism was that sanctions could “give legitimacy to a wider boycott movement that marginalises and stigmatises British Jews”.

There are also some who support the measures. Around 1,000 British Jews signed an open letter in July backing a ban on trade with Israeli settlements, organised by the left-wing Jewish group, Yachad.

This debate takes place against the backdrop of a heightened threat of antisemitism, following the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue last year, a spate of arson attacks targeting Jewish property, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green earlier this year.

This has prompted the UK government to ramp up policing, committing an extra £251 million over three years, with a particular focus on the festival period starting with Jewish New Year this weekend.

And for many British Jews, there is unease about what impact UK policy towards Israel could have on public attitudes towards Jews in Britain.

Image source, PA Media

Shortly before becoming prime minister in July, Andy Burnham apologised for Labour's initial response to Israel's military action in Gaza, saying the party "didn't get it right".

He also said more needed to be done to "ensure the Israeli government adheres to international law and to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive".

Labour previously lost support from some of its left-wing backers over Keir Starmer's initial response to the Gaza war.

During the early weeks of the conflict, Starmer backed humanitarian pauses to help aid reach Gazans but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Burnham has since said "the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire".

He has also voiced concerns about the proposed E1 settlement, saying in the Commons last week that it could "imperil" or "end" the two-state solution.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK government's plan for trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are a "grave miscalculation", says Israel's president.

Speaking from Jerusalem on Tuesday, Isaac Herzog says the decision will "fall on the wrong side of history", adding: "In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation."

Herzog says the move will directly harm Palestinians and urges foreign governments to turn towards "constructive dialogue" and cooperation.

"Sanctions are not a solution," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Hours before the UK government's expected sanctions announcement, Israel's national security minister has called on Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly recognise the Falkland Islands as occupied Argentinian territory, claiming the British violently stole the islands.

Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the British of carrying out oil drilling on the Falklands and stealing money from Argentina, calling on Netanyahu to impose sanctions on the UK.

In a 2013 referendum, residents of the islands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory - with 99.8% voting in favour and just three voting against.

Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last night called for the expulsion of the British ambassador.

"We will not be a doormat trampled by an antisemitic government," he wrote on X.

Rather than persuade Israel to change policy, sanctions could stiffen Netanyahu's resolvepublished at 10:43 BST

10:43 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

This expected announcement from the UK comes ahead of an Israeli general election which is due to take place next month.

However, rather than persuading Israel to change its policy, which I don't think anyone in the UK thinks is likely, this move could stiffen Netanyahu's resolve.

He's trying to shore up his support, particularly on the hardline right, and this will give him ammunition. The idea that Israel is being threatened by outside forces is the sort of thing he could use to rally support.

It is a danger - but one that the UK government will have taken into account.

It is doubtful that a change in government in Israel might result in a significant change of policy when it comes to the West Bank - all of the main contenders believe that Israel's settlements are a matter of national importance.

There may be differences in terms of nuance and the speed at which settlements are developed or in how another Israeli government might choose to crack down on the violence that we have seen some Israeli settlers perpetrating in the West Bank in the last few years.

But none of them really are likely to accept the idea Israeli products manufactured in those settlements should be banned by allies.

Joe Coughlan
Live reporter

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

In the next few hours, the UK government is expected to announce new restrictions on buying goods and services from Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank. Here's what you need to know beforehand:

• The announcement comes a little under a month after Israel opened up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area east of Jerusalem
• Bids are currently scheduled to end days before Israel's general election in October - which would make it much harder for any future government to overturn any tenders issued
• Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said the expansion plans are "illegal under international law", adding that proceeding would risk "making a Palestinian state unviable"
• The sanctions would not be a "boycott of business with Israel", Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has said, adding that relations with Israel remain "important"
• Israel's Foreign Secretary Gideon Saar declined to answer the BBC's Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell on whether the country planned to retaliate following the sanctions, but told an Israeli podcast last week: "If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain"
• US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has suggested British sanctions would "without a doubt" provoke a reaction from the US

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

EU member states are split on banning Israeli products from settlements in the West Bank, but an increasing number of countries are imposing their own measures.

A Dutch government ban is coming into effect from 22 September. In Ireland, a bill was signed into law over the summer banning goods from West Bank settlements, but not services. The Belgian government has also approved a ban. Spain did the same last year - but went further with a full arms embargo on Israel.

France and Sweden have both urged the EU to take more co-ordinated action and there is increasing support among member states.

European trade policy on Israel matters, because the EU is Israel's biggest trading partner making up 31.7% of Israel's total trade, external in goods with the world last year.

Relations are governed by an Association Agreement, but currently any food originating from settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights has to be labelled as such.

Several EU states are opposed to a broader ban, notably Germany and the Czech Republic, and in July EU governments failed to agree on sanctions on Israeli settlements.

One of the key questions is whether this is a trade issue - which requires only a qualified majority of countries - or a foreign policy issue which requires unanimity.

The issue often becomes shrouded in domestic politics too. Slovenia's former liberal government had imposed a raft of measures on Israel, but when Janez Janša's conservative-led government returned to power in May those measures were reversed.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Agricultural produce exported from Israeli settlements includes Medjool dates, mangoes, avocados, grapes and fresh herbs. There are also products such as kosher wines, olive oil and some consumer goods.

We expect this ban to focus mainly on goods rather than services which would be a lot more complicated to implement.

Already UK laws require labelling of settlement goods to ensure consumers are not misled and because they do not qualify for preferential tariff treatments under the UK-Israel trade agreements.

In the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli settler date farmer, Avigdor Arbel, tells me that all boycotts were "absolutely disgusting".

However, he brushes off the significance of a UK ban on settlement goods, saying that he and fellow settler growers were increasingly marketing their products to countries outside Europe, including India, China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

Palestinian date farmers say they backed a UK ban as they had recently seen an increase in settlers using violence to seize more land and diverting their water supplies.

The UK has a free trade agreement with Israel.

But preferential tariff treatment is not available to goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Documentation is required to show where goods were produced.

"Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, HM Revenue and Customs undertakes checks to verify it," according to the House of Commons Library.

The government also has guidelines on how products from occupied territories should be labelled to avoid misleading consumers.

However, some still point to challenges distinguishing between goods coming from the West Bank and Israel.

Today's government announcement is not going to be a "boycott of business with Israel", the secretary of work and pensions has said.

Pat McFadden tells Radio 4's Today programme the expected measures come in response to a "continued expansion of settlement activity".

He says: "If they continue to expand then the possibility of that two-state solution becomes ever more difficult to achieve."

McFadden describes the UK's relationship with Israel as "important", both in terms of economics and security.

He also says there must be a distinction between criticism of the current Israeli government and the life of the British Jewish community, describing hostility towards such groups in the UK as "fundamentally wrong".

Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, in al-Mughayyir, occupied West Bank

Six people, including three pupils, have been killed in al-Mughayyir this year, in a surge of settler-related violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. Many of the small ad-hoc settler outposts that have mushroomed around al-Mughayyir are illegal under Israeli law too.

The head-teacher of al-Mughayyir boys school, Bassam al Assaf, tells me: "The students are afraid, and their parents are afraid."

One of the pupils, 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan, was shot dead by a settler outside the gates of the school in April.

"I was inside my classroom and two little students came rushing to tell me there were settlers close to the school wall," remembers English teacher Waheed Abu Naem, whose brother Jihad was also killed by an Israeli soldier in the same attack.

Waheed says he was trying to move pupils to safety inside the school gate when the settler fired towards them. Mobile phone footage shows the moment Aws was shot.

"When I turned him onto his back, I saw lots of blood coming from his nose and mouth, and the bullet in his head," says Waheed. "We lost him."

• You can read more in our story

Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israel’s current government has pushed forward Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank at breathtaking speed, approving more than 100 new settlements, including hilltop outposts which were built illegally without Israeli planning permission or government authorisation.

The government also lifted a 20-year ban on Israeli settlement in the area around Jenin in the far north West Bank, and has pushed forward long-frozen plans to build 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area east of Jerusalem – an act which the UK government described as “unacceptable and destructive”.

Building in E1 would effectively divide the West Bank in two.

Last year, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the plan “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.

With general elections due in October, settlement monitors say Israel’s fiercely pro-settlement government is in a race to expand Israeli control of the West Bank.

As settlements and outposts have expanded, settler violence has risen sharply as well. The UN says injuries related to settler attacks on Palestinians have risen to an average of three a day this year.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, but with risks to both Palestinian residents and a future Palestinian state growing, Israel is under new kinds of pressure.

The government's expected announcement to restrict trade with illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been described as "performative posturing" by the shadow home secretary.

Chris Philp tells Radio 4's Today programme the move will be "very difficult" to implement practically given the challenge of distinguishing goods coming from the West Bank and Israel.

• Earlier, Labour MP and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry said "we can do it", citing sanctions imposed on Russia following the illegal annexation of Crimea as a precedent

However, Philp adds that the Conservatives believe in a two-state solution and that "building settlements on Palestinian land is obviously wrong".

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

"If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain," Israel's Foreign Secretary Gideon Saar told an Israeli podcast last week when asked about a UK ban on settlement trade.

However, when I approached him at a diplomatic event on Monday to ask for more details about planned retaliation, he declined to answer my question.

Already, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the British ambassador to be expelled.

After the Netherlands recently banned trade from settlements, Israel expelled two Dutch diplomats from a US-led centre in the south of the country, which is in charge of coordinating the shaky Gaza ceasefire.

Asked how the UK would react to any similar reaction regarding its staff, a government spokesperson recently stated that the UK was committed to implementing the Gaza peace plan and "playing our part in improving the situation on the ground".

Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, says the British government has to "challenge" Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank.

• As a reminder, the settlements are illegal under international law and form one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she notes that the Israeli government has "expressly said" it wants to "snuff out any chance of a Palestinian state".

Pointing to the Starmer government's decision to formally recognise Palestine last year, she says the UK must "do everything [it] can to protect the possibility of a Palestinian state".

"That is the way you get a safe and secure Israel and justice for Palestinians," she adds.

Asked how the UK will distinguish between goods from Israel and goods from the West Bank when imposing any trade sanctions, she calls it an "established issue".

She cites the example of historic sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, saying: "We've been here before, we can do it."

Image source, Getty Images

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has told the BBC’s Newsday programme that he believes "without a doubt there will be" a US reaction if the UK goes ahead with expected trade sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Reaction could come at a state, as well as a federal level, he suggests.

Doing "something like this with a partner, Israel" could have a "huge economic impact on British businesses", Huckabee says, adding that they could be "banned" from doing business "in a number of states" across the US.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke to US President Donald Trump over the phone on Monday, during which the PM stressed the importance of a two-state solution in the Middle East.

An official account of the call released by No 10 did not specify that Burnham had briefed Trump on the sanctions.

Israel opened up tenders last month for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank.

Plans to build on the so-called E1 area - east of Jerusalem - have long been internationally condemned, with settlements illegal under international law and Israel holding off on plans to build in the area for decades.

However, the current Israeli government gave the go-ahead for E1 construction a year ago, expressly to "erase" the idea of a Palestinian state.

The tender issued by the housing ministry last month covers about 12 sq km (4.6 sq miles) between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim.

The development would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem, with many of Israel's allies and Palestinians arguing it would deal a major blow to hopes of a two-state solution.

Image source, Reuters

Last week, Ed Miliband said he would unveil a "comprehensive reset" of the British government's policy on Israel.

In his first speech to Parliament as foreign secretary, he said plans from Israel to build some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area - east of Jerusalem - were "illegal under international law".

Miliband called the plans "the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable".

The foreign secretary said last month the Israeli Chargé d'Affaires had been summoned to the Foreign Office, where he had "set out the UK's profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal".

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by saying it was "absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland".

He said: "The UK government's decision to damage the relationship between our countries is deeply unfortunate."

The West Bank is an area of land located, as the name would suggest, on the west bank of the River Jordan.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 people since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 war.

An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Palestinians also want the land, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state.

Settlements are illegal under international law, and recent months have seen a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers.

Expansion has risen sharply since Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in 2022, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

A symbolic gesture - but a significant momentpublished at 07:05 BST

07:05 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Ed Miliband is set to go further than any of his predecessors in targeting Jewish settlements in the West Bank – settlements successive British governments have described as illegal under international law and a barrier to peace.

It’s a significant moment, coming almost a year after former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government recognised the state of Palestine and said the UK had a moral responsibility to support a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.

The government believes the prospects for a two-state solution are being jeopardised by the rapid expansion of settlements.

It recognises that banning a relatively small quantity of mostly agricultural products is a largely symbolic gesture.

But Miliband is describing this as a major reset in Britain’s wider policy on Israel, while PM Andy Burnham has said he believes more pressure needs to be put on the government of Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.

He’s already briefed President Trump on his plans. It’s not yet known what the president thinks.