Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated on Tuesday, September 8, that the United Kingdom will be on "the wrong side of history" if it imposes sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. In a speech in Jerusalem, Herzog stated that implementing such measures would represent "a serious miscalculation" and called for dialogue instead of sanctions and boycotts.
Just hours after Herzog's statements, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against settlements in the West Bank. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was set to announce the measures, which specifically target settlement expansion but do not constitute a boycott of all Israeli products. Several British media outlets indicated that London would ban the import of products manufactured in the settlements.
Herzog also stated that announcing these measures weeks before Israel's legislative elections constitutes "a blatant interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation." The Israeli President stated that the sanctions will benefit no one and will harm the Palestinians, depriving them of economic opportunities.
The British measures come in a context of growing outrage in Western countries over the acceleration of settlement construction in the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Violence in the region has increased since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In the West Bank live approximately three million Palestinians alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in the settlements, considered illegal by the UN and the international community.
