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Top of Front Page of The NYTimes: Israeli Allies Ban Trade With Settlements as U.K. Cites ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

September 8, 2026/8 Comments/in General/by Kevin MacDonald

More evidence of Israel’s isolation. Not that they really care given the craven behavior of their American puppet. And Netanyahu “was already on the defensive after accusations in the Haaretz newspaper that he had received an explicit warning from Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, that Hamas was planning a major attack on Israel in the weeks before the deadly assault of Oct. 7, 2023, and had failed to act on it.”

Israeli Allies Ban Trade With Settlements as U.K. Cites ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

Britain, Canada and France on Tuesday announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with Britain saying Israel had “turned a blind eye” to violence against Palestinians.

Several people work among green bushes in the foreground. A vast, arid, hilly landscape with scattered buildings and olive groves is in the background.
Palestinian villagers harvesting olives in the village of Turmus Aya, with Israeli settlements in the background, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in 2025.Credit…Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
By Stephen CastleAdam RasgonAaron Boxerman and Isabel Kershner

Stephen Castle reported from London, and Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.

Britain, Canada and France on Tuesday announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a symbolic step by three once-staunch allies illustrating Israel’s deepening isolation after the devastating war in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank.

Israel has been increasingly ostracized over its conduct of the war in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. International attention is now focused on its tightening grip on the West Bank and its expansion of illegal settlements there. In recent weeks, Israeli extremist settlers have repeatedly attacked Palestinians as the military has stood by.

Israel responded to Britain’s announcement with fury and indignation and announced countermeasures. Israel said it would close the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem. The institution, founded in 1839, represents the British government in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The coordinated move by the three nations risks further souring their relationship with the Trump administration, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel both diplomatically and militarily, although the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has spoken out against settler violence.

Britain’s package of measures was announced on Tuesday in Parliament by Ed Miliband, who became foreign secretary in July. It represents the clearest shift in British foreign policy since Andy Burnham became prime minister that month.

“Today marks the beginning of a new approach,” Mr. Miliband told lawmakers. He said that the British government “agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank — perpetrated by settler terrorists.” All too often, he added, “the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse.”

In a speech with an often deeply personal tone, Mr. Miliband said that he had made his announcement as a “proud British Jew” who was “unwavering” in his support for the state of Israel. He added, however, that Britain had concluded that the occupation was unlawful in line with a ruling by the International Court of Justice.

“So I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories,” he said, adding that the measures would also cover those who provide services to settlements, including “construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion.”

The U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, cast the move as potentially undermining efforts toward de-escalating tensions in the West Bank.

“We don’t want to see anything destabilizing going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region,” he told reporters when asked about the British announcement.

Before the British statement, Mr. Huckabee warned that the plans would stoke tensions with Washington and that possible countermeasures from the United States could have a “huge economic impact on British businesses.”

Mr. Huckabee told the BBC that Britain’s firms might face restrictions on business in some U.S. states that penalize boycotts on Israel, citing Florida as an example. “It’s like throwing a stone and not having an idea where it’s going to land,” he said.

Mr. Miliband also announced that Britain would refuse applications for the sale of arms that would “materially contribute to the occupation.” The scope of that pledge was initially unclear. Britain provides only a tiny fraction of arms imports to Israel, which are mostly sourced from the United States and Germany.

In 2024, the previous Labour government suspended around 30 licenses to export parts for fighter aircraft and military radar in protest of their potential use in the war in Gaza. The new policy would extend those suspensions for as long as Israel maintains its occupation, Mr. Miliband said.

The British, Canadian and French foreign ministers issued a joint statement promising “national measures” to ban trade in settlement goods and supporting other nations that have done so. Britain’s restrictions are expected to take six to nine months to come into force.

In all, a dozen countries, including Spain, Denmark and Ireland — some of which had already announced plans for sanctions — said on Tuesday that they now supported restrictions on trade with settlements.

Pat McFadden, a senior British cabinet minister, said that the overriding drive behind the plan was to keep alive the possibility of a two-state solution, a proposed framework to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“It’s also important to say that Israel is an important trading partner for the U.K.,” Mr. McFadden said. “This isn’t intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods.”

A longtime ally of Israel, Britain has repeatedly condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. In Israel, a number of former generals, intelligence officials and prime ministers recently accused armed settlers in the West Bank of ethnic cleansing after they raided Palestinian homes, mosques and villages.

In his speech, Mr. Miliband quoted one of them, Ephraim Sneh, a retired brigadier general and former minister of health, who said in a New York Times interview, “This is ethnic cleansing, to put it simply.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has shrugged off international and domestic criticism and promoted building more settlements at a breakneck pace.

Ed Miliband, in a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie walks, holding a bright red folder. A black metal fence is in the foreground.
Ed Miliband arriving at Downing Street in London on Tuesday. The foreign secretary referenced his Jewish heritage when he was appointed in July, noting that his parents came to Britain as refugees from the Nazis, and pledging to “seek a sustainable peace in Palestine and Israel.”Credit…Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, welcomed Mr. Miliband’s announcement, describing it as a “turning point in every sense.”

“The U.K. has finally matched its values with its actions,” he said in a phone interview. “What happened today is the beginning, not the end. But it is a very, very powerful beginning.”

In addition to closing Britain’s consulate in Jerusalem, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, announced restrictions on the activities of some British officials in the West Bank and a ban on the entry to Israel of 12 British lawmakers and other citizens who, he said, had been “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activities,” including Jeremy Corbyn, a former leader of the Labour Party.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister and chief settlement promoter, suggested Israel should expel the British ambassador. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, also said Israel should recognize that the Falkland Islands, a British territory in the south Atlantic, belonged to Argentina.

Other critics warned that Mr. Netanyahu could use the sanctions to galvanize his supporters ahead of elections next month. The centrist leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, Yair Lapid, called the British move “a grave mistake” that came “at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.” He added in a statement that it “strengthens the extremist voices in Israel a moment before the elections.”

At the same time, Mr. Netanyahu’s political opponents argued that he had brought the sanctions upon Israel because of the conduct of his government.

He was already on the defensive after accusations in the Haaretz newspaper that he had received an explicit warning from Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, that Hamas was planning a major attack on Israel in the weeks before the deadly assault of Oct. 7, 2023, and had failed to act on it. The assault, which the Israeli authorities said had led to the deaths of about 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of about 250 people, was the catalyst for the war in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office denied the newspaper’s report, calling it “false.”

Around the time he became prime minister in Britain, Mr. Burnham apologized for the government’s initial reaction to Israel’s conduct in Gaza, saying that his Labour Party “didn’t get it right” and adding, “There’s increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed.” He did not say genocide had been committed, saying that only the international courts could determine accountability.

The debate over Gaza has had domestic political consequences in Britain, with an insurgent Green Party capitalizing on misgivings over Labour’s initial caution among more left-leaning voters.

While Britain’s chief rabbi publicly opposed the move on Tuesday, calling it “truly a dark day,” some British Jews welcomed the tougher measures. Yachad, a pro-Israel group that opposes Israel’s occupation, said in a statement that the “announcement is not anti-Israel, and it is certainly not antisemitic.” The organization said that “Israel’s current extremist government has crossed almost every red line” in entrenching its occupation.

Last month, Britain condemned the Israeli government’s decision to move ahead with plans for new homes for settlers in E1, part of the West Bank near Jerusalem, in a joint statement with countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway and Australia.

The statement urged Israel “to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements in the West Bank.” It added, “Not only will they take us further from peace, but they further undermine Israel’s international standing.”

Image

From a car's interior, two silhouetted people face forward. Outside, a road winds through dry hills, displaying multiple blue and white flags with a Star of David.
Israeli flags fluttering next to Palestinian farms in the West Bank in June.Credit…Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

 

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https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TOO-Full-Logo-660x156-1.png 0 0 Kevin MacDonald https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TOO-Full-Logo-660x156-1.png Kevin MacDonald2026-09-08 13:32:082026-09-08 13:32:08Top of Front Page of The NYTimes: Israeli Allies Ban Trade With Settlements as U.K. Cites ‘Ethnic Cleansing’
8 replies
  1. Alex
    Alex says:
    September 8, 2026 at 8:48 pm

    I know … I know … in a way it’s lipstick on a pig but we’ve all GOT to get out and vote, and use Track AIPAC and other sources to vote, essentially AGAINST “israel” and the parasites.

    This is something Right, Left, working class, middle class, can all agree on.

    “israel” receives about $30k per man, woman, and child, yearly, from the US. Now, imagine if every man, woman, and child in the US got that money back, going back however long the grift has been doing on which is probably since 1948.

    This mid-terms has to be a big move against the parasites and their shabbos goyim like Pedonald. Vote Conservative, vote Rand Paul or AOC or whoever your heart tells you, but vote against the parasite before it kills us all.

    • Elky
      Elky says:
      September 8, 2026 at 10:54 pm

      “israel” receives about $30k per man, woman, and child, yearly, from the US

      $30k per American?

      • Alex
        Alex says:
        September 9, 2026 at 3:27 pm

        Yes. Now imagine that over what, almost 80 years now? Not $30k/$30k equivalent for all that time, it would have started out smaller, but also think of the accountant type math; you have to figure what that money would have become if given to Americans to buy houses, fund college educations, invested. It’s a lot of money! And it’s why Israelis have free college, free health care, much longer life expectancy, etc.

        • Elky
          Elky says:
          September 10, 2026 at 3:37 pm

          It’s not $30k times 300+ million each year?

    • Frank
      Frank says:
      September 9, 2026 at 6:59 am

      💯 as always.
      ‘Settlements’ don’t produce anything, the whole of israel only slightly more than nothing- but it gives the illusion that is fags are actually doing something.
      .
      Yep, if they’re pro zog, vote for whomever, DSA even, in the house. There is no loss to you.
      .
      But if those Republicans Zog bots slide in in 2026, they’re just going to have a real easy time of it in 2028.
      This way they are going to have to work for it, and working for it is going to be discussing Zog

      • Alex
        Alex says:
        September 9, 2026 at 3:29 pm

        Yep the way to go is to always keep bringing up ZOG and mentioning resources like Track AIPAC. The parasites and their “israel” project are about as popular as ringworm right now.

  2. ganainm
    ganainm says:
    September 9, 2026 at 12:51 am

    UK air traffic control suffered an unspecified “technical issue” that caused hundreds of flight cancellations yesterday. israeli sabotage?

    • Darles
      Darles says:
      September 12, 2026 at 8:05 am

      The sanctions on Israel were announced by the UK’s Home Secretary, Ed Milliband (who is Jewish.)

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/sep/08/uk-us-trade-israel-sanctions-labour-ed-miliband-farage-latest-news-updates

      (Ed’s brother David is President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a New York-based humanitarian organization who has been overseeing the flooding of the US with refugees from over 40 crisis-affected countries, since 2013.)

      Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that “if Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain,” accusing the Labour government of systematic hostility and domestic political meddling. He announced specific countermeasures, including:
      Closing the British Consulate in occupied East Jerusalem. Expelling British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center and the Civilian-Military Co-ordination Committee.
      Banning 12 British MPs from entering Israel and the occupied West Bank.
      Terminating British training of Palestinian Authority security forces.
      Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir escalated rhetoric by demanding the expulsion of the British ambassador and labeling the UK government as “antisemitic.” Ben-Gvir additionally even called for Israel to recognize Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and impose reciprocal sanctions on Britain.
      President Isaac Herzog and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid condemned the UK sanctions as a “grave miscalculation.”

      The only people that suffer from power struggles between progressive Jews and Zionists Jews are the Gentiles in whose countries they’ve shacked ip in and subverted.

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