Israel Warns It Will 'Act Against Britain' Over Settlement Sanctions Plan
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar warned “If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain” after Ed Miliband told the Commons the UK will “reset” Israel policy within weeks — including possible bans on British firms financing or advertising West Bank settlements and on trade with illegal settlements. “This Government will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution,” the Foreign Secretary said. Mr Burnham told MPs the E1 settlement tender “could imperil, if not end” a two-state outcome.
Two governments heading towards elections are talking past each other to their own electorates: Mr Saar’s threat plays to an Israeli campaign season in which toughness towards Europe is cheap, while Mr Miliband’s “reset” answers a Labour membership and a public that has moved decisively on Gaza. What makes this more than rhetoric is the specificity — settlement-finance bans are a genuine economic instrument, not a communiqué, and Britain moving first would create a template Brussels could follow, which is precisely why Jerusalem is threatening costs now, before the measures are drafted. The E1 tender gives the argument a deadline: decisions expected before Israel’s October election. Watch what “act against Britain” turns out to mean — intelligence cooperation, trade, or merely volume.