Former Israeli prime minister backs UK’s sanctions on West Bank settlers

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and ex-IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz have backed the UK government’s decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

In a statement they hit out at the Israeli government’s furious response, as they criticised “Jewish terrorists” and warned of acts of violence against Palestinians they said were “an effort at ethnic cleansing”.

On Tuesday, the foreign secretary Ed Miliband confirmed a “new approach” in the UK’s relations with Israel, imposing a ban on goods coming out of Israeli settlements in the West Bank which Britain regards as illegal.

In response, Israel shut down the UK consulate in East Jerusalem, while president Isaac Herzog declared the sanctions a “grave miscalculation”.

The new statement says: “Acts of violence against Palestinians by a large settler population in the West Bank, the burning of their property, harm to their olive groves, the theft of their livestock, which is their source of livelihood, and attempts to demolish homes and expel their residents-all these constitute an effort at ethnic cleansing taking place in territories whose administration the State of Israel is responsible for.

“The failure of the police, the army, and the security services to prevent the Jewish terror is exposed for all to see.”

It adds: “Under these circumstances, sanctions against Jewish terrorists, and not against the State of Israel, as British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced… are an inevitable consequence of the Jewish terror and the failures of the government and the security bodies that do not prevent them.” It also hits out at the Israeli government, saying there is “no basis to the government's response that the decision to impose sanctions against Jewish terrorists is an expression of antisemitism.”

Prime minister Andy Burnham defended the sanctions in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday

"In this difficult and dangerous world, Britain has to stand for something," the Labour leader told the Commons. "Britain has to show leadership, Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice."

The measures restrict the importation of settlement-produced goods, impose financial sanctions on developers and halt arms export licences contributing to the occupation.

The move comes amid growing international backlash surrounding Israel’s controversial plans for controversial further development in what is known as the E1 corridor.

Construction in E1 severs the northern and southern West Bank from East Jerusalem, and critics say the moves imperil the idea of a two-state solution in the future.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal — a stance that was reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in July 2024.