Burnham backs UK sanctions on Israel amid West Bank settlement dispute

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : Diplomats widely see the sanctions as an important but largely symbolic move, since goods from Israeli settlements account for only a small share of Israel's exports -- though the step also draws attention to Israel's growing diplomatic isolation.
49% : Israel responded angrily, telling the United Kingdom it must close its consulate ⁠in East Jerusalem within 30 days, according to two Israeli officials and two sources familiar with the matter.
49% : UK personnel assigned to a US-led Gaza coordination mission in Israel, along with British diplomats based in Ramallah, have been told they have seven days to leave, one ⁠of the Israeli officials and the two sources said.
48% : " The import ban represents one of the sharpest shifts in British policy toward Israel in years.
47% : Israel's government has come under intensifying international condemnation over its conduct in the war in Gaza.
43% : That stance was reinforced by a 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion which found Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful.
43% : "We have important intelligence and security relationships with Israel, and I'm confident they will continue," he said, declining to go into details.
43% : Badenoch criticises sanctions Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X that he had thanked Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch for speaking out against the sanctions.
41% : Israeli attacks have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, while Israel's settlement expansion and rising settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank have also drawn international condemnation.
38% : British Jewish group Yachad took a different view, saying the announcement was "not anti-Israel, and it is certainly not antisemitic," and accusing Israel's "extremist government" of crossing almost every "red line" to entrench its "occupation".
37% : Mr Miliband said yesterday that Israel had "turned a blind eye" to violence carried out by settlers against Palestinians.
37% : Israel also said Britain would no longer be permitted to train Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
33% : Ed Miliband said the UK 'could not stand by' amid increasing Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he regretted Israel's order to close the consulate, though he said the decision did not come out of the blue.
32% : In addition, 12 British politicians and other nationals -- including former Labour Party leader and outspoken critic of Israel Jeremy Corbyn -- would be barred from entering the country.
24% : The sanctions are the latest in a series of measures aimed at Israel's settlement policy and highlight what diplomats describe as a widening diplomatic chill between Israel and some long-standing allies.

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