Ed Miliband is expected to set out the measures in a statement to MPs on Tuesday. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA
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”.
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.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee delivers a press statement during his visit to the town of Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah in West Bank, Palestine, on September 5, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and one of Washington’s most outspoken supporters of Zionism and Israel’s settlement project, has accused the British government of “Jew hate” in an extraordinary attack prompted by comments from Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is himself Jewish.
Huckabee launched the attack after Miliband published a video describing a meeting with people who had been in Gaza and were working on the ground there. The foreign secretary said what he had heard about the humanitarian and medical situation was “horrific”, including accounts of medicines being blocked from entering the enclave and children dying while waiting for life-saving treatment.
Miliband said the accounts reinforced the need for Britain to take stronger action. He said the government had to “act more decisively” than it had until now.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband:
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. You know, the stories that people were telling me of medicines being blocked, children… pic.twitter.com/UCq8ChMHD0
Israel’s foreign ministry had earlier attacked Miliband’s account, insisting there were “no restrictions whatsoever” on medicines entering Gaza and citing the quantity of medical supplies admitted since the October 2025 ceasefire.
The British Foreign Secretary @Ed_Miliband posts a video recounting “stories” he was told about Gaza.
If the Foreign Secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip, and… https://t.co/JuPUpyhPLM
However, recent assessments by international humanitarian agencies contradicted the Israeli claim. On 2 September, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said critical laboratory and diagnostic supplies “remain restricted” and that it had not been permitted to bring prosthetic and rehabilitation equipment into Gaza for more than two years.
“WHO has not been allowed to send prosthetic and rehabilitation equipment into Gaza for more than two years.”
OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has similarly reported restrictions and delays affecting the entry of health commodities, alongside critical shortages of medicines and medical supplies.
The diplomatic confrontation comes as the new government of Prime Minister Andy Burnham prepares what Miliband has called a “comprehensive” response to Israel’s accelerating settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Measures under consideration reportedly include a ban on trade in goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements, alongside targeted sanctions against individuals and entities involved in settlement expansion.
Miliband has said Britain does not want UK companies “financing, constructing, or advertising” new Israeli settlements. The proposed measures follow Israel’s decision to advance the E1 settlement project occupied East of Jerusalem. London says E1 would cut through the occupied West Bank, separate it further from East Jerusalem and jeopardise the territorial viability of a Palestinian state.
The government has already said it intends to target sanctions at those involved in illegal settlement expansion. Earlier measures introduced by Britain and international partners targeted networks accused of financing and enabling settler violence, while British businesses were advised against economic and financial activity in illegal settlements.
The proposed settlement trade ban, which legal analysts say is the least Britain must do to meet its obligations under the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling, has sparked harsh criticism from Britains pro-Israeli lobby.
Huckabee’s accusation of anti-Semitism comes against the background of his own longstanding commitment to Christian Zionism and Israeli territorial claims. He is the first evangelical Christian to serve as US ambassador to Israel and has repeatedly referred to the occupied West Bank by the biblical term “Judea and Samaria”. He has previously rejected the description of the territory as occupied and has preferred to call Israeli settlements “communities”.
The Foreign Office did not respond directly to Huckabee’s accusation, but pointed to nearly £318 million ($430 million)in government spending over three years to protect Jewish communities and combat what it called anti-Semitism.
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Adidas shop [Mtaylor848/Wikipedia]
German sportswear company Adidas apologized Monday after an advertising campaign featuring a former Israeli soldier prompted a backlash and calls for a boycott, Anadolu reports.
The campaign featured Shalev Biton, whose left leg was amputated after he was wounded while serving in the Israeli army in 2021, to promote Adidas’s Single Shoe service.
“We recognize that an image used in a recent local activation by the local team has raised concerns and strong reactions,” Adidas said in a statement.
“It was never our intent to cause offense and we apologize for anyone affected,” the company added, describing the promotion as a local initiative rather than part of a global campaign.
Biton was one of 11 disabled athletes featured on posters displayed at Adidas stores in Israel.
Pro-Palestinian activists criticized the decision to include a former Israeli soldier in a campaign centered on amputees, contrasting the promotion with the thousands of Palestinians who have lost limbs during Israel’s war on the Gaza.
World Health Organization estimates published in May said that Gaza had recorded more than 5,000 traumatic limb amputations and over 22,000 major extremity injuries since October 2023. Up to a quarter of those with life-changing injuries were children, according to the organization.
Spanish actor Javier Bardem was among those who urged consumers to boycott the company over the promotion.
Adidas said its Single Shoe service was intended to promote inclusion by allowing people with limb differences to only purchase the shoe they need.
The company introduced the service in 23 European countries in January, offering individual shoes for 50% of the price of a pair at Adidas-owned stores and outlets. It was developed in consultation with disability groups and organizations, including ParalympicsGB.
Adidas said the program was expanding across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt.
The company said it would “continue to listen, learn and work to ensure that our actions reflect the inclusive values we stand for.”
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UN human rights chief Volker Turk speaks at the opening of the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland on September 7, 2026. [Beyza Binnur Dönmez – Anadolu Agency]
UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Monday urged states to end transfers of arms to Israel that risk being used to violate international law, and called on companies to stop business practices supporting illegal settlements, Anadolu reports.
Speaking at the opening of the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk said Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank was “unfolding, unobstructed,” despite a clear ruling by the International Court of Justice.
“What more will it take for states to take action to prevent the entrenchment of occupation across land earmarked for Palestinians under the two-state solution?” he said.
“They (states) need to end the transfer to Israel of arms that risk being used to violate international law. Companies also need to end business practices that support illegal settlements,” he added.
The rights chief said words of condemnation “ring hollow in the face of deliberate violations and suffering,” calling for greater international efforts toward sustainable peace.
On Gaza, he said Israel has killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in daily strikes despite the ceasefire announced almost a year ago and continues to restrict humanitarian aid.
He said he is appalled by Israeli proposals for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, as well as executions and torture of Palestinians suspected of collaboration by armed groups affiliated with Hamas.
Turning to artificial intelligence, Turk called for an “all-out effort” to establish “cast iron guarantees” around AI safety and security, warning advanced AI could pose an “existential risk to humanity.”
“At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and those involved in its supply chains to come together around agreed red lines,” he said.
According to Turk, he would write to AI companies in the coming days, urging them to take immediate steps to reduce risks.
He warned that “a handful of men” wield “almost unlimited power over AI” and argued that delays in establishing effective governance benefit major technology companies, their owners and enablers.
Pointing to concerns about increasingly powerful systems, Turk said AI that can escape its testing environment or blackmail developers to prevent itself from being switched off is “AI that is too powerful.”
He also called for greater attention to AI’s human rights implications, including its effects on employment practices, fundamental principles of democracy and the environment.
Turk acknowledged recent international progress, including the establishment of the Global Dialogue on AI and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, but said governments and companies need to listen to growing public concerns about the technology.
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US special envoy Jared Kushner is seen during the press conference with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and the President of Ukraine Volodyymr Zelenskyy (both not seen) in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 06, 2026. [Danylo Antoniuk – Anadolu Agency]
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator on Middle East affairs, has justified the faltering talks on the next steps in the fragile ceasefire agreement in Gaza, saying that the Strip had been a “miserable place for a long time”, in remarks that appeared to overlook the scale of the humanitarian suffering caused by Israel’s war on Gaza.
Speaking at a press conference in Ukraine on Sunday, Kushner said disarming Hamas would not be easy, describing the group’s “militarisation” in the Palestinian territories as “beyond our comprehension”.
He added that the Trump administration is “extremely determined” to resolve outstanding issues and said it agreed with Israel on the territory’s desired end state, saying: “I think we agree with them on the end state.”
But he attributed some difficulties to Israel’s election, saying: “They just have a crazy election and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards but we’re very determined and we’re working through these things.”
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
