ED Miliband said he “regrets” Israel’s response to a ban on trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank, but insisted it was “the right thing to do”.
The Foreign Secretary’s announcement of the ban triggered a diplomatic row, with Israel closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banning 11 MPs and a campaigner from the country.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Miliband said: “I regret what the Israeli government has announced, but I’m proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do.”
He acknowledged that the closure of the consulate, which represents the UK in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, would be “damaging”, but said the UK Government had “weighed up the costs and benefits in advance of this”.
While Israel has strongly criticised the move, the response from the US has been more mixed.
Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, described it as an “irrational act”, but secretary of state Marco Rubio declined to comment on the announcement beyond saying the US would “obviously” not follow suit and Donald Trump has yet to comment.
Miliband said he would “let our American friends speak for themselves” but noted the international community had been “quite frustrated, to put it mildly, with some of the actions of the Israeli government”.
The Foreign Secretary also rejected domestic criticism that accused the UK Government of emboldening antisemites following a string of attacks on Jews in the UK.
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, described the announcement as “gesture politics” that would “succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target”.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has also criticised the move, writing in the Sun that it was “performative politics, designed to appease Labour MPs and activists regardless of the consequences for Britain”.
Miliband said he had “great respect” for Sir Ephraim, but did not agree, adding: “We all need to do more to tackle antisemitism, but I believe we can do that and stand up for British values.”
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Miliband said a “new approach” was necessary because plans for the E1 development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.
He said more settlements had been approved under the four years of Netanyahu’s government than in the previous 20 years and settler terrorism in the West Bank was “rampant”.
A new comprehensive sanctions regime will target companies and individuals providing services such as financing and construction for the settlements.
There will also be a ban on advertising in the UK of illegal settlements.
Legislation for the new regime could take up to nine months to put in place, Miliband said, but he promised immediate sanctions against “extremist settlers who have supported or incited acts of violence”.
Miliband also confirmed that the UK Government's new official stance was that the occupation of the West Bank was unlawful, which he admitted was an "overdue statement of reality".
France and Canada also moved to ban goods from the settlements as part of a co-ordinated international action.
