Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has strongly denied the chief rabbi’s call for “special care” for British Jews, after a UK Government move to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Miliband, who called himself a ‘proud British Jew’, rejected the Chief Rabbi’s suggestion that the policy would only further fuel targeted extremism. British people must oppose injustice and help those who are oppressed, Prime Minister Andy Burnham explained in Parliament when people are being driven out of their homes. The political conflict comes on top of a disturbing background of growing antisemitism, in which the number of anti-Jewish hate incidents has risen by 21% in the first half of 2026.
President Don’t Trump gave The White House a relatively lukewarm response to the expected backlash from the United States. He told reporters that he would consult with Israeli authorities as well as British officials to find out more about the “fresh policy approach.” In the meantime, the Palestinian presidency welcomed the British sanctions as a step that will face human rights violations. UK finalized measures will take up to nine months to come into effect, specifically aiming to tackle the financing, construction and advertising of illegal settlement projects such as the E1 development under way that would physically cut off the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
The government policy has been much discussed in the UK Jewish community. In spite of recognising the intolerability of settler violence, the Jewish Leadership Council lodged a complaint to the policy could become a de facto boycott and the Board of Deputies voiced heightened concerns about security prior to Rosh Hashanah. But progressive Jewish institutions such as Na’amod embraced the sanctions, and argued that the premise that the trade policy would automatically generate antisemitism was false. Greater Manchester Police has stated it will be deploying extra resources and officers to ensure safe religious celebrations during the High Holy Days due to potential security threats.
The sanctions have sparked a major diplomatic row with the Israeli government which immediately closed the British consulate in East Jerusalem and prevented 11 British MPs and a leading campaigner from entering Israel. In addition, Israel’s Diaspora Minister urged to bar the entry of a number of key humanitarian groups such as Oxfam, Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians, which are funded by Britain. The UK’s actions are similar to coordinated trade restrictions recently adopted by Canada and France, both of which are for goods that come from the settlements.The UK’s actions do not fall far short of those of other countries that have recently adopted similar coordinated trade bans on goods from the settlements.
