UK foreign secretary says ‘settler terrorists’ conducting ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians with some government support; announces ban on all dealings with settlements

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announces a sweeping sanctions package targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as a range of other punitive measures, during a speech in the House of Commons featuring Britain’s strongest-ever criticism of the settlement enterprise.

Denouncing Israel’s entirely “unlawful occupation” of the West Bank, Miliband decries spiraling instances of settler violence against Palestinians, saying “settler terrorism is rampant,” and citing United Nations reports of an “average of six violent settler attacks against Palestinians per day this year, the highest on record.”

He adds that the “British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank – perpetrated by settler terrorists,” charging that “the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and, worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”

In his remarks, Miliband says London will impose an import ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, sanction companies and individuals that facilitate settlement expansion, and refuse licenses for arms and other exports deemed to materially support Israel’s “occupation,” adding that France and Canada will also impose an import ban, with additional countries set to “support further action.”

“The unlawfulness of the occupation should be reflected in the economic relationships we choose to have with the occupied territories,” Miliband says, noting that the import bans and a ban on advertising settlements in the UK will form part of a new “comprehensive sanctions regime” expected to take effect within six to nine months, with what he calls “appropriate religious exemptions.”

The regime will also “take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion,” he says.

Miliband stresses that the UK will continue trading with Israel inside the Green Line and opposing the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The government is also taking several “immediate” steps, he says, including sanctioning a group of extremist settlers accused of supporting or inciting violence against Palestinians; expanding the UK’s existing global human-rights sanctions framework to enable swifter action against settlement expansion, including the E1 project; and refusing all license applications for arms and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation.”

He declares for the first time that the British government now considers Israel’s “occupation as a whole” as unlawful, citing Israel’s “entrenchment of its control,” alleged intention to “extend permanent sovereignty” and “expansionist agenda via illegal settlements.”

More settlements have been approved under the four years of this Israeli government than in the previous 24 years,” he says. “Houses bulldozed. Roads and public infrastructure destroyed. Families displaced from their homes. …Sixty-five Palestinian communities completely expelled since 2023 – a total of over 4,000 Palestinians evicted from their homes due to settler violence and state actions. And in August, the crossing of a long-standing red line: the issuing of E1 tenders for over 1,200 homes.”

Later in the speech, Miliband says London is acting “in a broad international coalition,” as France and Canada will also ban imports of goods from settlements, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden are “pledging they will support further action.” The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have already banned goods or are in the process of doing so, he notes.

Separately, Miliband announces sanctions on Hezbollah’s financial arm, Al-Qard al-Hassan, and says the UK will reimpose major economic sanctions on Tehran in coordination with the European Union and US.

“Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the UK has unshakable bonds,” Miliband says. “Our argument is with the conduct of its government.”