The announcement came in a joint statement from Poland, Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, posted on the British Foreign Office's website. The nations said they would impose national import restrictions on settlement goods and push for similar limits across the European Union, citing a rapidly deteriorating situation driven largely by settler violence.
Washington distanced itself from its allies' decision. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would not join Britain, France and Canada in restricting settlement imports, while U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the sanctions "an irrational step" and had previously accused the British government of harboring hostility toward Jews.
UK unveils detailed sanctions
Britain went further than its partners, with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband telling Parliament that extremist settlers are carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in parts of the occupied West Bank and that Israel's government has too often looked away — or worse, supported it. "Far too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye", he said, adding that some Israeli officials have taken actions supporting the forced displacement of Palestinians.
Miliband's package extends beyond the goods ban already announced by the wider coalition. It includes sanctions on settlers identified as leading instigators of violence, restrictions on services including construction, a ban on advertising settlement properties in Britain, and tighter licensing rules for weapons and other exports linked to the occupation. He said the full sanctions regime would take six to nine months to complete.
Describing himself as a "proud British Jew" grateful to Israel for sheltering his relatives, Miliband said support for Palestinian statehood is not in tension with backing Israel's right to exist and defend itself, and he pointed to Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack as proof of the threats Israel faces. He also announced new sanctions Tuesday on a group linked to Hezbollah and voiced concern over rising antisemitism in Britain.
In retaliation for the move, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the closure of a British consulate — the office that manages relations with Palestinian authorities in the West Bank, located in East Jerusalem — along with entry bans on 12 Britons he called antisemites, though he did not name them. He also said Britain would be excluded from a U.S.-led coordination mission for Gaza.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the move as premature and politically charged, calling it "a serious error of judgment" that put the signatories "on the wrong side of history". With Israel's parliamentary election set for Oct. 27, he described the timing as direct interference in a sovereign democracy's vote.
Backdrop: settlement expansion and violence
The joint statement singled out Israel's push to advance the E1 settlement project — land between Ma'ale Adumim and East Jerusalem — as "unacceptable", warning it would cut East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank and split Palestinian territory into disconnected northern and southern zones. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed further steps were needed to head off additional damage, according to the statement.
The signatories called the settlements illegal under international law and said they were following the lead of Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium, which have already moved to restrict settlement trade. They also rejected what they called actions "equivalent to the annexation of Palestinian land and the forced displacement of the Palestinian population", while affirming Israel's right to pursue its security interests and reaffirming condemnation of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack. The goal, they said, remains a two-state solution allowing for a "sovereign, democratic and viable Palestinian state".
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the announcement as an important step toward holding Israel's government accountable and called for the restrictions to be implemented quickly.
Israel has built hundreds of settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since capturing the territories in the 1967 Six-Day War — settlements widely regarded as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Palestinians envision the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza forming a future state. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported in July that extremist settler attacks rose 63% in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier, reaching 660 incidents — violence critics say the Israeli government has tolerated or, in some cases, encouraged, driving dozens of Palestinian families from their homes.
The EU is Israel's largest trading partner, accounting for roughly a third of its exports. It remains unclear how much of that trade originates in West Bank settlements, though the Israeli newspaper Globes has previously put the figure at a few percent — an estimated USD 350 million (EUR 300 million) a year if the share is around 2%.
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Source: PAP, Polish Radio