Israel has announced a series of counter sanctions against Britain, including the closure of the British consulate in illegally occupied East Jerusalem and a ban on 11 British MPs, after the United Kingdom (UK) announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements.
Israeli Foreign Minister (FM) Gideon Saar announced the measures on Tuesday, hours after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband outlined the UK government’s position on the Israeli illegal occupation and announced sanctions on Israeli settlements.
Saar said that Israel would close the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center (IGSC), a United States (US)-led centre established to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israel will also end British training of Palestinian forces and bar 11 British MPs [Member of Parliament] from entering the country.
The MPs include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, independent MP Zarah Sultana, Labour MPs Naz Shah, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Richard Burgon, and Green Party MPs Carla Denyer, Adrian Ramsay, Ellie Chowns, Sian Berry and Hannah Spencer.
Israel also imposed an entry ban on lawyer Fahad Ansari, who has worked on a case seeking to have Hamas removed from Britain’s list of proscribed terror organisations.
Announcing the measures, Saar criticised Britain’s decision to impose restrictions on Israeli settlement goods. Saar said, “A united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, will always remain the capital of Israel and is under its full sovereignty.” He also said Israel would decide on further retaliatory measures at its discretion.
“The message to any government that seeks to harm us is clear. Those who act against Israel, Israel will act against them, and they will lose up their influence and relevance in the region,” Saar said.
The British government announced the sanctions against Israeli settlements on Tuesday, while also declaring the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and recognising the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Miliband told parliament that the UK government considers the occupation unlawful because of Israel’s continued control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty and its expansion through settlements.
“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband said.
The UK also announced a ban on all arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”, alongside comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements.
France and Canada are also set to ban trade in settlement goods.
The move followed the UK’s acceptance of the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which said that the Israeli occupation was unlawful and placed a duty on states to oppose it.
Eleven other countries Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden joined Britain in a statement published on Tuesday.
The countries said that they intended to support European restrictions on trade in goods from settlements that are illegal under international law, while some were considering further measurers under their national procedures.
Meanwhile, Saar said that Israel would expel British officials from the IGSC. Israel recently expelled Dutch officials from the centre after the Netherlands imposed a ban on goods from Israeli settlements.
Earlier this year, Israel also removed Spain from the centre, accusing Madrid of “obsessive anti-Israel bias”.
