UK set to announce ban on trade with Israeli settlements on Tuesday

UK set to announce ban on trade with Israeli settlements on Tuesday Submitted by Imran Mulla on Mon, 09/07/2026 - 09:51 New measures are expected to prohibit any investment in illegal Israeli settlement businesses Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to the media after attending a preview event for the Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition, at the British Museum in London on 2 September (AFP) Off British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is set to announce a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements on Tuesday, Middle East Eye understands. The ban is expected to bring the UK into compliance with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of July 2024, Whitehall sources told MEE. The ICJ ruling declared the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory to be illegal and obligated states - including Britain - to take steps to oppose it. To achieve this, the ban is expected to prohibit any investment in settlement businesses. Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied territories, said on Monday that "all states carry an obligation - not a preference of an obligation - not to recognise the situation as legal, and not render aid and assistance in maintaining it". Albanese said a settlement trade ban must be part of "a true paradigm shift to Israel-Palestine that ultimately seeks to implement the International Court of Justice advisory opinion in 2024". The Labour Muslim Network (LMN) and International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) published a legal briefing last week saying the UK should implement a "full ban on British citizens and businesses conducting economic and financial activities in illegal Israeli settlements as well as in activities that assist the wider illegal settlement economy". The briefing said: "The legal framework governing the settlements is firmly established in international humanitarian law, including treaties to which the UK is a party. "The UK is required not only to respect international humanitarian law but also, under Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, to ensure respect for it in all circumstances." This comes as Israel’s new E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem is poised to effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two. Last week the Israeli government threatened Britain with retaliation over the expected measures. "If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain," foreign minister Gideon Saar warned. US pressure increases Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair Netanyahu, suggested last week that the Falkland Islands belonged to Argentina and not to Britain. Yair is not a minister, but after his comments, US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington could reconsider its position on British sovereignty over the islands. Last Thursday, Trump suggested he would not back Britain if Argentina were to invade the Falkland Islands, telling GB News: "Your country was not there to help me" when the US and Israel began their attack on Iran in February. Argentinian President Javier Milei declared last week that Argentina's national sovereignty had been "violated" and that his country would defend its interests "tooth and nail, no matter who it bothers". On Friday morning in a national address, Milei threatened sanctions on oil firms that seek to drill around the Falklands, adding that the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands. Mike Huckabee criticised for accusing Jewish UK foreign secretary of 'Jew hate' Read More » A leaked Pentagon memo from April suggested that Washington could use the Falklands as leverage in negotiations with the UK. However, the British Foreign Office is understood to be pressing ahead with preparing to announce sanctions on Tuesday. Miliband released a video late last week in which he said: “I just came out of this meeting talking about Gaza to people who've been there and are there on the ground, and frankly it was horrific what is unfolding.” He asserted that “we as a UK government, as the prime minister has said, have got to act and act more decisively than we have”. In response, the official X account of Israel's foreign ministry attacked Miliband and said, "facts matter less (when making a video for a political audience)" to the British foreign secretary. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, shared the Israeli foreign ministry's post and remarked : "The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts." Miliband is Jewish and his parents lost family members in the Holocaust. UK Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0