Ed Miliband brushed aside mounting criticism today over sanctions targeting Israel, as Labour faced accusations that it was using Jewish lives for political gain.
The Foreign Secretary said he was “proud” of the Government’s decision to prohibit trade with settlements in the West Bank, even as the move triggered a fierce backlash.
Israel has responded by announcing the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem, while Andy Burnham is watching to see whether Donald Trump will follow with reprisals of his own.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis dismissed the measure as “gesture politics” and warned it would “further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.
Kemi Badenoch also condemned the Government’s stance, arguing that ministers were risking “fanning the flames of anti-Semitism at home” in an attempt to win back voters drifting from Labour to the Greens.
The Tory leader said Labour was ‘escalating its campaign against Israel, throwing British interests under the bus to win back Islamist and far left activist votes’.
Ed Miliband insisted he was ‘proud’ of the Government’s ban on trade with West Bank settlements despite a wave of anger
View of an area in the E1 zone near Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on September 8, 2026
The Government is still waiting to hear Donald Trump’s reaction to the sanctions – which have been coordinated with other countries including Canada and France
The move was announced as the party gears up for battle in a by-election for Keir Starmer’s old Holborn & St Pancras seat. It is looking like a tough fight with the Greens, who are bidding to put Palestine at the heart of the campaign.
Countries including France and Canada coordinated their own sanctions with the UK in an effort to revive the push for a two-state solution.
Asked for his response to Israel’s countermeasures, Mr Miliband told Sky News: ‘I regret what the Israeli government has announced, but I’m proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do.’
He said: ‘It will be damaging, that’s true, but we weighed up the costs and the benefits in advance of this.
‘And we did something very important. We talked to the representatives of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prime minister, the representative here, and they both said to us with a very clear voice, you need to act from our point of view.’
He added: ‘I would prefer that Israel hadn’t announced what it did, but overall, I strongly believe that what we did, along with other international allies, was absolutely the right thing to do.’
Mr Miliband said he was ‘confident’ that security cooperation with Israel would continue, despite fears about sharing of intelligence about terrorism.
Pressed on the chief rabbi’s criticism, Mr Miliband said: ‘I’m a proud British Jew and I don’t agree with the chief rabbi.
‘I have great respect for the chief rabbi, but I don’t agree with him.
‘And I believe that it must be possible to do what we did yesterday, which is to stand up for British values of the rule of law, of dignity for people, of the prevention of injustice, and do so in a way, as I did yesterday, to say to anyone in our country who holds British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government: that is anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
‘And we all need to do more to tackle anti-Semitism. But I believe we can do that and stand up for British values.’
Britain’s Chief Rabbi (pictured on November 19, 2023) said a trade ban on Israeli settlements in the West Bank was ‘truly a dark day for British Jews’
Andy Burnham – who will face MPs on the issue at PMQs later – insisted the sanctions are ‘the right thing to do’.
He said they are aimed ‘not at the Israeli people’, but at bringing peace in the region.
‘The Israeli people are not responsible for the actions of their government. And nor is the Jewish community in the UK,’ the PM said.
‘Blaming British Jews for the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is wrong, plain and simple. And it is antisemitism, plain and simple.
‘I met the representatives of the Jewish community just last week. I know the fear they live with day by day. My Government will stop at nothing to ensure they are safe and to stamp out antisemitism in every part of our society.’
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar announced that the UK’s consulate in Jerusalem would be closed as part of a package of retaliatory measures.
He also said Israel would ban 11 MPs and a campaigner involved in what he claimed was ‘antisemitic and anti-Israel activity’ from entry to the country.
They include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott.
Mr Saar said he had spoken to Mrs Badenoch and thanked her for her opposition to the ‘hostile Labour Government’s announcement’.
The Israeli retaliation came after Mr Miliband told the Commons that a ‘new approach’ was necessary because plans for the E1 development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution ‘unviable’ by ‘cutting through the heart of Palestine’.
He said more settlements had been approved under the four years of Mr Netanyahu’s government than in the previous 20 years and settler terrorism in the West Bank was ‘rampant’.
A new comprehensive sanctions regime will target companies and individuals providing services such as financing and construction for the settlements.
There will also be a ban on advertising in the UK of illegal settlements.
Legislation for the new regime could take up to nine months to put in place, Mr Miliband said, but he promised immediate sanctions against ‘extremist settlers who have supported or incited acts of violence’.