Britains dramatic crackdown on Israeli settlements sparks fierce response as US blowback looms

The United Kingdom unveiled sweeping new measures targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, triggering an immediate diplomatic rupture with Israel and a sharp warning from a senior Trump administration official.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus approval, that Israel would close the British Consulate in Jerusalem and impose a series of countermeasures in response to the U.K. sanctions.

The Israeli measures also include removing British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, ending British activities training Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank and denying entry to 12 British elected officials and other British nationals whom Israel accused of antisemitic or anti-Israel activity.

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"Measures against Israel will not go unanswered," Saar said. "Whoever acts against Israel, Israel will act against them, and they will lose their influence and relevance in the region."

The escalation came hours after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament that Britain would ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements, target companies and individuals facilitating settlement expansion, and refuse licenses for arms and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation.

The move is part of a coordinated push with France, Canada and other European partners amid what the governments described Tuesday as "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion" in the West Bank, including Israels E1 project, which they argue threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. The measures come just weeks before world leaders gather for the U.N. General Assembly in New York and less than two months before Israels Oct. 27 election, adding diplomatic and political stakes to an already strained relationship between Israel and several of its traditional Western allies.

At the same time, the foreign ministers recognized Israels "legitimate security interests" and reiterated their condemnation of Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which they described as "the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust." They said their objective remained a two-state solution allowing Israel and "a sovereign, democratic and viable Palestinian state" to live side by side in peace and security.

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The timing has also become a political issue inside Britain. An unnamed Labor MP told The Telegraph that Prime Minister Andy Burnham had faced pressure from colleagues worried about Gaza-related campaigning and losing seats to the Greens, while Israeli officials have accused London of trying to influence Israels election — claims the British government rejects as it frames the measures as an effort to preserve the two-state solution.

"Today, I announce that the official view of the British government is that the occupation is unlawful," Miliband told lawmakers Tuesday.

Miliband opened the statement by describing himself as a "proud British Jew" with "the deepest gratitude to the State of Israel," recalling how his grandmother found refuge there after losing her husband and 60 other family members at the hands of the Nazis.

He stressed that