Watch my question to the Foreign Secretary after the UK sanctions Israeli settlements
It was in November 2024 that I first called on the government to ban trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank. Back then, I was told this was impossible to do.
In the time since, settler activity has rapidly expanded. Amnesty International has determined that ethnic cleansing is occurring in the occupied territory. And last month, the Israeli government invited tenders for a massive settlement which will split the West Bank, effectively ending any chance of a two-state solution.
Finally, today, the government took the action to meet the jeopardy of this moment, announcing a wave of sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements.
But it is not just the action that I welcome, but the change in tone from the government.
Today, the Foreign Secretary said ethnic cleansing was occurring in the West Bank. That some settlers were terrorists. And that the Israeli government was turning a blind eye to the forced displacement of Palestinians.
In other words, he said what many of us have known for a long time, but the government has been too timid to say.
I have long said that the Netanyahu government will not respond to strongly worded statements of condemnation. We need concrete action of the kind we saw today.
Questions remain though over how these sanctions will be implemented. I pressed the Foreign Secretary on this earlier. You can listen to our exchange below.
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