UK to adopt tougher stance on Israel with illegal settlements trade ban

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/07/ed-miliband-reset-uk-relations-israel-palestine

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move fiercely criticised by US and Israel

Ed Miliband will announce a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.

In an intervention which has already drawn fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements.

He has also told civil society groups he is determined to reassert support for a two-state solution to the conflict, with an appeal for the protection of Palestinian rights and respect for international law.

The prime minister, Andy Burnham, spoke to the US president, Donald Trump, on Monday night, a call which No 10 said “stressed the importance of a two-state solution”, but it gave no other details of the conversation.

On Tuesday the US ambassador to Israel said the US could issue its own reprisals against the UK. Mike Huckabee, who had claimed the Labour government is gripped by “Jew hatred”, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it would “do great damage to any Brits who are doing business in a number of states in the US”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/07/ed-miliband-reset-uk-relations-israel-palesti

Comment by dizzy: It’s an inadequate and delayed response by the UK government following it’s extended active participation is Israel’s Gaza genocide. [11am: Actually continuing UK’s active participation in Israel’s Gaza genocide. Addressing illegal settlements only is inadequate(ed: and a distraction). ]

What’s needed is a total severance of relations with Israel: it needs to be recognised and treated as a state committing the war crimes of genocide and forced displacement. Anything less that that may be regarded as complicity in genocide. Arms sales and military assistance and co-operation must end.