Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband “called out” the growing numbers of Israeli settlements in the West Bank imposing sanctions on some aspects of the system although contradictions remain within the overall stance towards apartheid state

*

In an unprecedented address before the British parliament on September 8, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Ed Miliband, criticized the growing Israeli settlements in the West Bank area of Occupied Palestine.

Image: Ed Miliband (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Beyond the criticism, the government announced sanctions against individuals and businesses based among the settlers who are encroaching even further on Palestinian land.

In response to the speech by Miliband, the Israeli administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the closure within 30 days of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials denounced the British Labor government of Prime Minister Andy Burham accusing it of antisemitism.

The situation in Palestine has stirred the conscience of people throughout the world. In the UK specifically, demonstrations involving millions have taken place since the onslaught of the latest genocidal wave by the settler regime in the aftermath of the Al Aqsa Flood during early October 2023.

Days of solidarity with the Palestinian people have mobilized people in various regions Britain and other states within the UK. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign brought multitudes into the streets of London, Manchester and many other municipalities.

Another organization called Palestine Action has been targeted by the British government and proscribed by the legal system. Numerous people are currently charged with terrorism for simply saying that they support the aims and objectives of Palestine Action which engages in civil disobedience designed to disrupt British military and economic assistance to the zionist state.

.

Over a thousand people gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square to oppose genocide and the Palestine Action ban, October 4, 2025 [Photo: Defend Our Juries/X]

.

Consequently, this growing level of popular support for the Palestinian cause cannot be ignored by the British Labor government. For several years inside the Labor Party there has been a fierce struggle over policy related to the Palestinian question. Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn and many of his closest allies within the party were accused of antisemitism, charges in which they have vehemently denied.

Under the previous Labor Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, the government “recognized a Palestinian state” in response to the continuing genocide. Yet this symbolic gesture does not advance the realization of an independent government for the Palestinian people within their homeland.

However, Starmer’s efforts towards curtailing the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem proved ineffective. Demonstrations continued by the Palestinian solidarity movement while monetary and diplomatic assistance to the settler-colonial state proceeded unabated.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on the address delivered by Miliband, noting that:

“The foreign secretary also says lots of people in Britain ‘have been stirred by the suffering of the Palestinian people’ and want the government to respond to what is happening. Miliband says what he has heard from voices on ground in the West Bank is that Palestinian people are being ‘intimidated, harassed, bullied out of their homes by these settler terrorists’. He says he is afraid of the Israeli government ‘turning a blind eye’ to the enforced displacement of Palestinians. Miliband says it is right to call it out, saying the UK could not remain ‘silent or passive’.” 

However, this statement from the Foreign Secretary revealed no indications of a broader and more comprehensive strategy to bring about the complete independence of the Palestinian people. Since October 2023, there have been nearly 80,000 officially reported deaths in Gaza with more than 100,000 wounded and injured as well as the displacement of the entire population of approximately 2.3 million.

The situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is gruesome as well. The uprooting of olive trees and other agricultural projects by the settlers continue in efforts to seize more land and eliminate the capacity of Palestinians to earn a livelihood. People are being forcibly evicted from their homes, farms and small businesses in efforts to drive the Palestinians out of their homeland completely.

Contradictions in British Foreign Policy on Palestine

Despite these statements which go further than any other utterances of the recent past, Miliband said that the British government opposed the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) campaigns which have swept the world. In reality, it is the BDS movement which is driving the attempts by former supporters and enablers of the apartheid system in Occupied Palestine to distance themselves from the Netanyahu government and its US financiers and arms suppliers.

Although these efforts by the Labor government have aggravated the Israeli regime and the White House, much stronger sanctions are needed to have a real impact. The Palestinians are still being killed and denied housing, education, adequate food, water and healthcare.

The ceasefire, which was agreed upon last year, has not stopped the hostilities against the Palestinians. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops continue to occupy large swaths of territory in Gaza. In the West Bank, the settlers are violently attacking people who are largely disarmed.

These settler paramilitary groupings are supported and reinforced by the Israeli security forces and military apparatus. The Trump administration, the main backers of the apartheid regime, opposes any efforts by the Palestinians to win their liberation and sovereignty.

The Israeli government leaders have maintained the same views for decades on their purported right to occupy Palestine. They utilize distorted pseudo-religious dogma to justify and rationalize the ethnic cleansing and genocide which has characterized the system since the Nakba of 1948.

A parallel movement in the US described as Christian Zionism, which links the existence of the settler-colonial regime to some form of religious redemption, has strong influence within the United States administration of President Donald Trump. Yet these positions have created fissures in the MAGA tendency within the Republican Party since it has resulted in a war against Iran which has fueled inflation and other economic problems in the US and the world.

Zionist thinkers and politicians from as early as the 1890s have said openly that their purpose in creating a settler-colonial regime was to strengthen western colonialism and imperialism. The Israeli state serves as an outpost for western hegemony throughout West Asia and North Africa.

So far there have been four measures announced by Tel Aviv in response to the sanctions announced by Miliband. These actions include:

“The closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem within 30 days. The removal of British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center located in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel. The termination of British activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in the occupied West Bank under the ‘British Support Team in Ramallah’. A ban on entry to Israel for 12 British MPs and other British nationals involved in ‘antisemitic and anti-Israel activity, as well as those who deny the very existence of the State of Israel’. Saar said this response should be viewed as a message to every country, adding ‘Whoever acts against Israel, Israel will act against them, and they will lose their influence and relevance in the region. Measures against Israel will not go unanswered.’” 

In addition to the sanctions announced by the British government, a joint declaration condemning the settlements has been signed by several European countries. This represents an even broader willingness to criticize the Israeli Occupation regime in Palestine.

The governments which signed the statement against the settlements were France, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. Undoubtedly, the BDS Movement in alliance with the Palestinian organizations themselves are having an impact throughout the western capitalist world.

Nonetheless, it will require far more rigorous measures to dismantle the settler-colonial regime in Palestine. There would have to be a total ban on providing economic, military and diplomatic support for the State of Israel to force Tel Aviv to abandon the zionist project.

Britain Has an Obligation to Assist the Palestinians

It is the British monarchy and successive civilian governments which are responsible for the Palestinian crisis. Since the late 19th century, the zionist movement has allied itself with colonialism and European imperialism.

During World War I in 1917, British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour issued a letter calling for the creation of a “homeland” for Jewish people. The Balfour Declaration does mention the need to respect the rights of the Arab population which has never been honored.

.

.

The British Mandate over Palestine (1920-1948) was resisted by the Palestinian people. Between 1936-1939 the Palestinians engaged in a rebellion against British rule and the encroachment by zionist settlers in Palestine. It was the British which turned over Palestine to a settler-colonial regime in 1948 after the western-colonial dominated United Nations voted to recognize the illegal state of Israel several months earlier.

Consequently, the British masses will have to further intensify their efforts to break the historical ties between London and Tel Aviv. The UK and other European states can have an impact on United States foreign policy towards Palestine and the entire West Asia region.

There has been a major shift in public opinions towards Tel Aviv in the US as well. The Israeli press has expressed its concern over the Palestine solidarity movement in the US and the growing opposition to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) among left-leaning elements and others within the Democratic Party.

The unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic of Iran is clearly related to the US efforts to shield the Israeli state against the Axis of Resistance in West Asia. However, broad opposition to the war is weakening support for the zionist regime in the US at the same time.

*

Click the share button below to email/forward this article. Follow us on Instagram and X and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost Global Research articles with proper attribution.

Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image: Palestine solidarity in London, Feb. 13, 2026 (Source: Abayomi Azikiwe)

Global Research is a reader-funded media. We do not accept any funding from corporations or governments. Help us stay afloat. Click the image below to make a one-time or recurring donation.