Measures could also target companies involved in settlement construction; Smotrich urges expelling UK ambassador, Ben Gvir urges recognition of Falkland Islands as Argentinian
People attend cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new settlement named Doran in the Mount Hebron region of the West Bank, June 16, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Britain is set to announce wide-ranging economic restrictions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, including a ban on trade in goods produced in the settlements, reports said Monday, in what would mark a significant escalation in London’s pressure on Israel and possibly prompt similar measures by other countries.
The New York Times reported that seven officials briefed on the measures had said the package was expected to include a trade ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements. Three of the officials said it could also include sanctions on companies helping to build settlements.
The measures would go significantly beyond previous British sanctions related to the West Bank, which have targeted individual settlers and far-right Israeli ministers. Lord Tariq Ahmad, who served as Britain’s Middle East minister until 2024 and has knowledge of the expected policy, told the New York Times that the government was “broadening the extent of the sanctions from individuals to looking at processes and the system.”
The economic impact of a settlement goods ban would likely be limited, as such products make up only a small fraction of the roughly $8 billion in annual trade between Britain and Israel, the report said. Its political significance, however, could be considerably greater, with analysts saying the British move could encourage other European governments to adopt broader measures.
The Guardian reported, without citing sources, that Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was set to announce the sanctions on settlement goods and some services in a speech to UK lawmakers, which would also back the two-state solution and censure Israel for its actions against Palestinians.
He was set to use “firmer language than his recent predecessors in calling out the humanitarian injustices suffered by Palestinians in Gaza,” the report said.
The expected Tuesday announcement is likely to deepen already strained ties between London and Jerusalem, with Britain moving from sanctions targeting individuals toward restrictions on settlement-related economic activity, and Israel signaling that it is prepared to retaliate.
The two ministers previously sanctioned by Britain, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, reacted furiously to Monday’s reports and publicly urged far-reaching responses.
Smotrich called for the expulsion of the British ambassador from Israel.
“We will not be a doormat for an antisemitic government in a country occupied by radical Islam that is trying to escape economic and social collapse by attacking Jews and the State of Israel,” the Religious Zionism party chair fumed on X. “The British Mandate in Israel is over.”
Ben Gvir wrote on X in Spanish that Israel should recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the disputed Falkland Islands, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and to impose sanctions on Great Britain as long as the occupation continues.”
Ben Gvir accused London of “violently stealing” the islands and “stealing the money from the Argentine people.”
Argentine President Javier Milei retweeted Ben Gvir’s post.
Tuesday’s announcement is expected amid a broader shift in British policy toward Israel under Miliband, who last week called for a “comprehensive reset” and said London was preparing measures against Israeli settlement expansion.
Miliband has also sharply criticized Israel over conditions in Gaza, drawing an angry response over the weekend from the Israeli Foreign Ministry and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Huckabee accused the British government of “Jew hatred” after Miliband publicized accounts he had heard of medicines allegedly being blocked from entering Gaza. Israel denied that medicines were being prevented from entering the Strip.
The trade measures come as Britain has intensified its opposition to Israel’s E1 settlement project east of Jerusalem, which Miliband has described as crossing a “red line.”
The Israeli government last month opened bidding for seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units in the E1 area, after approving roughly 3,400 homes there in August 2025.
The planned expansion would connect Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim area while effectively preventing contiguous Palestinian sovereignty between the major population centers of Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah. The project was frozen for years amid fierce international opposition, including from previous US administrations, over concerns it would severely undermine prospects for a future Palestinian state.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leading supporter of the project, has said that the E1 project “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned last week that Israel would retaliate if Britain moved ahead with punitive measures against settlements, saying Jerusalem had “tools” at its disposal.
Israel has also weighed expelling British representatives from the US-led International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat as part of its response to the dispute. A source familiar with the matter previously told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem was considering the move along with “other measures” against London.
Britain said removing its representatives from the center would “undermine” efforts to improve conditions in Gaza, saying its personnel were there at the request of the United States and were working alongside Israel and international partners on implementation of the US-backed postwar framework.
British Jewish groups have meanwhile lobbied the government against the planned settlement measures, arguing that they unfairly single out Israel and could fuel antisemitism, according to the New York Times.
The Guardian reported that Palestinian groups in Britain were withholding judgment until the details of Miliband’s plan were announced, though they expected the most significant change in British policy toward Israel since then-foreign secretary David Lammy withdrew most arms export licenses in September 2024.
Francesca Albanese, the staunchly anti-Israel UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories who has been accused of antisemitism on several occasions, told the Guardian that a ban on settlement goods would represent an “absolutely important” change in Britain’s position, but argued that it would have to go substantially further to amount to what she called a “true paradigm shift.”
Albanese argued that restricting agricultural products and cosmetics alone would have limited impact and called for measures against companies involved in financing, insuring or constructing settlements, particularly the E1 project. Those proposals were her recommendations, rather than measures confirmed as part of the British government’s package.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law and an obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel rejects that position, citing historic ties to the territory and security considerations.
Reference Link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/britain-said-set-to-declare-trade-ban-with-west-bank-settlements-on-tuesday-amid-e1-dispute/