Israel shuts British consulate after Ed Miliband sanctions West Bank settlers and accuses them of 'ethnic cleansing'

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The Israeli government has retaliated by announcing plans to close the UK's consulate in Jerusalem after Ed Miliband unveiled sanctions on goods produced in the occupied West Bank.

The foreign secretary told MPs that the government's objection was "not with the people of Israel, with whom the UK has unshakeable bonds".

He said the argument was "with the conduct of its government".

Miliband went on to read out the UN's definition of ethnic cleansing, as a "a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas".

Read more: Ed Miliband set to ban UK trade with Israeli settlements in West Bank in move which risks US fury

Read more: Israeli military orders criminal investigation into killing of Hind Rajab, 5, and 15 emergency aid workers in Gaza

He said: "The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank - perpetrated by settler terrorists.

"And all too often, 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."

His comments mark the first time a member of the Government has accused Israeli settlers of ethnic cleansing.

Mr Miliband announced a fresh package of tougher sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in unison with France and Canada, including a ban on goods produced there and an embargo on weapons exports that “materially” support them.

He specified that the sanctions would only apply to specific settlements, saying: "We will continue to support important and valued trade with green line Israel precisely because we support the two-state solution, including security and prosperity for Israel."

Following the announcement of the new sanctions regime, Israel's foreign minister confirmed that the UK's consulate in Jerusalem would be closed.

Gideon Saar also said UK representatives would be expelled from the International Centre for Assistance in Gaza and Kiryat Gat in Israel and that British activity training Palestinian Authority forces in Ramat HaSharon in Israel would also be banned.

Israel has also banned the entry of 11 British MPs: Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Naz Shah, Diane Abbott, Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Adrian Ramsay.

He warned that "the message to any government that seeks to harm us is clear. Those who act against Israel, Israel will act against them, and they will lose up their influence and relevance in the region".

The Chief Rabbi has described it as “truly a dark day for British Jews” after the Government announced sanctions on illegal West Bank settlements.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis said: “Today our Government has chosen to ignore the deep concerns expressed by so many of us. The measures announced amount to little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric and those who harbour a dangerous obsession with the Jewish State.

“These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah and at a time when our community is more vulnerable than ever to the wave of extremism that has been building over recent years, these sanctions do nothing to advance the cause of peace. Nor do they make anyone safer – quite the contrary.

“Gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel, and the cumulative effect of such punitive policies is to further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews.”

The announcement will likely deepen tensions with the US which is expected to release a statement about the sanctions later today.

The US ambassador warned earlier today that there would "without a doubt" be a US reaction if the UK pushes ahead with sanctions on settlements in the West Bank.

It also could incur an Israeli retaliation, after the country's president said the proposed trade ban was a "gross interference" in his country's elections, adding that such a move would put the UK "on wrong side of history".

Mike Huckabee accused the UK of “discrimination against the Israeli government” and said a US response could come from the state and the federal level.

In a video posted to Ed Miliband's X account, the foreign secretary condemned the Israeli government's actions in Gaza as a "stain on the conscience of the world" and a "moral emergency".

He adds that there is "increasing evidence" of "war crimes" in the region and that "we are witnessing unprecedented settler terrorism in the West Bank".

France and Canada have also announced a ban on imports of goods from illegal settlements today, Ed Miliband announced.

They join a host of other countries who have also placed a blockade on goods from the region including the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway.

Despite maintaining that there was increasing evidence that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, Mr Miliband stopped short of saying it was responsible for a genocide – maintaining the UK’s position that could only be decided by international courts.

The reset in the UK’s approach under Andy Burnham has already triggered a backlash from Donald Trump’s White House and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel.

But Mr Miliband told MPs the “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”.

Legislation for the new sanctions 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”.

Mr Miliband said the Government would now refuse all applications for the export of weapons and equipment that would “materially contribute to the occupation”.

On Gaza, the Foreign Secretary said there had been “the most unimaginable trauma and suffering” which was “a stain on the conscience of the world and of this country too”.

In a criticism of Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, in which he served, Mr Miliband said new Prime Minister Mr Burnham was “right to say that the Labour government has not done enough in the face of what is happening”.

The Foreign Secretary acknowledged Israel had “the right not to live in fear of vile terrorism” and to defend its territory and people following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

“But that cannot justify what has happened in Gaza,” he said.