UK - Bans Goods from Israeli Settlements

The United Kingdom, France and Canada will ban goods produced in the West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament, explaining that all such communities were deemed by his country to be illegal.

Israel, he said, is responding by closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem that services Palestinians. It will also remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat and halt the British training of Palestinian Authority security forces.

What is motivating the U.K., Miliband said, is “a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community” as well as Israel’s “clear intent to bury the Palestinian state.”

The U.K., Canada and France issued a separate statement announcing the ban on settlement exports and the introduction of “targeted measures against settlements and those who facilitate them or profit from them.”

-www.jta.org, 8 September 2026

Commentary: One wonders how someone with Ed Miliband’s level of education can make the statement, “clear intent to bury the Palestinian state.” There never was one. Palestine was divided between Jewish Palestine and Arab Palestine.

It was 29 November 1947 when the United Nations partitioned Palestine through UN Resolution 181. One part was supposed to be Arab Palestine, the other Jewish Palestine. The Jews accepted it; the Arabs rejected it. That should have settled the case. Well, it did not. In 1948, when Israel declared its existence, surrounding Arab nations immediately went to war against the fledgling state. They lost. That again should settle it. It did not.

Here we need to add that the United Kingdom is historically the largest colonial power ever. Britain proudly proclaimed, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” How did they achieve this success? Simply through military force. That is the process used by any country throughout human history.

Again, not so when it comes to Israel. Jewish Palestine is now unacceptable for the Arabs. After the Second World War and the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, large parts of Germany are still occupied to this day by the former Soviet Union (namely, Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast).

But Israel is different.

The prophet Joel proclaims: “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem” (Joel 3:1). But that is not all, because verse 2 states: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.” Note the words “all nations,” and the last phrase: “parted my land.”

What is written in the Word of God will eventually be fulfilled. The last two verses of the prophet Joel read: “But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion” (v. 20-21).

(See Why Jerusalem Is Jewish, Item #1070, $2.)