Britain’s government is continuing its anti-Israel line: Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband presented a series of measures against Israel in Parliament today (Tuesday), chief among them a blanket ban on trade in goods and services in Israeli territory, alongside sanctions against construction companies operating in the area. Jerusalem is already threatening a sharp response to the move.
At the outset of his remarks, Miliband tried to emphasize his commitment to Israel’s existence and the fight against terror. “I say to anyone who questions Israel’s right to exist—you are wrong,” he said, while simultaneously announcing sanctions against Hezbollah’s economic arm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan. Still, he made clear that “securing a two-state solution is the central compass of this government’s policy.”
The British foreign secretary also addressed his personal connection to Israel and Hamas’s murderous terror attack on October 7. “I am grateful to the State of Israel for giving my grandmother a home after the Holocaust,” he said, recounting childhood visits to see her in Tel Aviv. According to him, the October 7 attack was “a massacre whose echoes still reverberate” and “a murderous act by a murderous terror organization.”
But after those words, Miliband shifted to a sharp attack on Israel’s government. “Today we mark the beginning of a new approach, to expose wrongs and act against them,” he declared. “Our quarrel is not with the people of Israel, but with the conduct of its government.”
Miliband went on to say he feels “a great sense of shame about what is happening in ‘Palestine’,” and even called what’s happening in the Gaza Strip “a stain on the conscience” of Britain. According to him, the steps the British government is advancing are meant “to save the only chance for peace—a two-state solution.”
The British move marks another escalation in London’s policy toward Israel, with the measures this time not limited to policy statements but including an attempt to directly harm Israel’s economic activity. Israel is monitoring the move and threatening to respond sharply to the sanctions.