Key facts
- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government has banned goods imported from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
- British companies are now prohibited from investing in illegal West Bank settlement projects.
- The UK government has previously had rules barring goods produced on illegal settlements from preferential tariff treatment.
- The Global Echo Litigation Center has threatened HM Revenue and Customs with legal action over allegations of settlement goods being mislabelled as Israeli and entering the UK tariff-free.
- UK diplomats have stated that the new sanctions are 'largely symbolic and will have no material impact on the UK’s wider relationship with Israel'.
The UK government has implemented a ban on goods imported from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and prohibited British companies from investing in illegal West Bank settlement projects. Prime Minister Andy Burnham's administration announced these measures, which aim to signal a shift in policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband stated that British companies would be barred from investing in illegal West Bank settlement projects. This move follows previous UK trade rules that disallowed goods produced on illegal settlements from receiving preferential tariff treatment. However, the Global Echo Litigation Center, a US non-profit, has threatened HM Revenue and Customs with legal action, alleging that settlement goods have been mislabelled as Israeli and imported into the UK tariff-free.
Despite these new restrictions, UK diplomats have reportedly assured the White House that the sanctions are "largely symbolic and will have no material impact on the UK’s wider relationship with Israel." This suggests a continued alignment with US policy and a desire to avoid jeopardizing the broader bilateral relationship.
The article criticizes the measures as potentially cosmetic, arguing that true pressure on Israel would involve cutting off military cooperation, ending intelligence provision, imposing a genuine arms embargo, and implementing robust economic sanctions on individuals and institutions enabling what the author describes as Israel's "genocidal, settler-colonial project." The piece also notes that under the previous premiership of Keir Starmer, the RAF conducted surveillance flights over Gaza, with British intelligence allegedly passed to Israel.