British Prime Minister Andy Burnham lauded the UK’s decision to impose sanctions on imports from West Bank settlements, telling parliament on Wednesday that the action was an example of “leadership on the world stage.”
“That is leadership on the world stage, Britain being true to what it has always been about,” he said of the sanctions. ”Leadership is about taking action where there is injustice, where we need to correct unfairness, people being driven out of their homes.”
“In this difficult and dangerous world, Britain has to stand for something,” he added.
During an interview with Sky News, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also defended the sanctions, stating that he was “proud” of the decision because “it was the right thing to do.”
Miliband also told Sky News that he regrets the Israeli government’s announcement that it will close the UK’s consulate in east Jerusalem in retaliation for the sanctions.
Meanwhile, a British official told The Jerusalem Post that the UK gov’t is “considering its response” to Israel’s decision to close the consulate.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Tuesday that the consulate would be shut down, while British representatives at the Kiryat Gat Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) would be expelled, following Miliband’s Tuesday announcement of UK sanctions on West Bank settlements.
Miliband added that the closure of the consulate will be “damaging” for links with the Palestinian Authority, but went on to assert, “We weighed up the costs and the benefits in advance of this. And we did something very important.”
British Jewish community backlash
Members of the British Jewish community leadership, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, have criticized the UK government’s decision to impose the sanctions, arguing the move risks inflaming tensions and putting diaspora Jews at risk.
This is a “dark day for British Jews”, Mirvis said in a statement, adding that the announcement amounted to “little more than a political flag bearing a mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric, and those who harbor a dangerous obsession with the Jewish state.”
In response to the backlash over the sanctions, Miliband told Sky News, “Well, I’m a proud British Jew, and I don’t agree with the chief rabbi.”
“I have great respect for the chief rabbi, but I don’t agree with him, and I believe that it must be possible to do what we did yesterday, which is to stand up for British values of the rule of law, of dignity for people, of the prevention of injustice, and do so in a way, as I did yesterday, to say to anyone in our country who holds British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, that is antisemitism, pure and simple.”
When asked if he could understand the Israeli government’s argument that they are acting defensively with the measures taken in the West Bank, Miliband told Sky News that Israel’s actions are making the country “less secure.”
UK acted with ‘various allies’ says Miliband
“I don’t want to see Israel isolated in the world,” he stated, noting that the UK acted with various allies in deciding to impose sanctions.
They all “shared our deep, deep sense of disquiet about what was happening”, he added, but declined to say if the US government was supportive of the UK’s decision.
“I’ll let our American friends speak for themselves.” He said, making clear that the US government had ‘been informed’ of the UK’s move to sanction prior to its official announcement.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to journalists on Tuesday, making clear that the US government would not be following the UK’s lead, though he refrained from criticizing Miliband’s decision.
Amichai Stein, Goldie Katz, and Reuters contributed to this report.
