Britain, France and Canada have announced plans to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, triggering an angry response from Israel as the United States rejected the sanctions and said it would not take similar action.
The three Western allies said the measures were prompted by Israel’s continued settlement expansion and increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, told Parliament that the UK Government agreed that Palestinians were facing ethnic cleansing in parts of the West Bank, accusing Israel of failing to prevent settler violence and, in some cases, supporting the forced displacement of Palestinians.
The announcement came as Britain, France and Canada joined nine other countries in declaring their intention to introduce or support restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements.
In a joint declaration, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the settlements posed a “direct and urgent threat” to the prospect of a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
The 12 countries also criticised what they described as “unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion” in the West Bank.
The statement was signed by Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
France’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said the country would “end trade” with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, while Ireland and Spain have already introduced measures targeting settlement-related trade.
France has also been pressing the European Union to adopt similar restrictions, although the proposal has faced opposition from some EU member states. The EU remains Israel’s leading trading partner.
The settlements primarily export agricultural products, wine, Dead Sea cosmetics and various industrial goods. British government figures show that trade between the UK and the occupied Palestinian territories stood at about £38 million ($51 million) in 2025.
Britain is also expanding its sanctions beyond trade restrictions. Miliband said companies and individuals involved in services such as construction, financing and real estate for Israeli settlements would face UK sanctions, while advertising or promoting land and property in Israeli settlements would be prohibited.
The British government also announced sanctions against five additional individuals accused of inciting or carrying out violent attacks against Palestinians, bringing the number of people sanctioned by London over settler activity to 38, according to the Foreign Office.
Israel responded with immediate counter-measures against Britain, ordering the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem and banning 12 Britons, including lawmakers from the governing Labour Party, from entering the country.
Israel also said it would expel British diplomats working at a centre monitoring the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan and block British training programmes for Palestinian Authority security forces.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned Miliband’s accusations, describing them as “outrageous lies” and accusing Britain of interfering in Israel’s internal affairs.
Saar said the British sanctions were morally distorted and amounted to interference in the affairs of a sovereign state, particularly ahead of Israel’s closely contested October 27 elections.
The United States, however, rejected calls to join the sanctions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would not follow Britain’s example, arguing that the US did not want measures that could further destabilise the West Bank amid heightened tensions across the region.
“Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did,” Rubio told journalists before departing for Latin America.
He added that the United States did not want to see “anything destabilizing” happen in the West Bank given the wider situation in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to defend the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.
The latest diplomatic confrontation comes against the backdrop of Israel’s prolonged military offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which has generated intense international criticism.
The new sanctions and Israel’s retaliation against Britain further deepen tensions between Israel and several of its Western partners, while the US decision to stay out highlights a growing divide over how governments should respond to settlement expansion and violence in the occupied West Bank.