The UK Foreign Secretary has broken with decades of diplomatic inaction by imposing sanctions and explicitly condemning the expansion of Israeli settlements as "ethnic cleansing," marking a sharp departure from previous vague statements of concern. Critics, including former Conservative ministers, have long dismissed the government’s past rhetoric as hollow, with some calling the approach weak and ineffective. The shift raises questions about whether targeted measures will now influence the activities of settler groups, whose actions have repeatedly drawn international condemnation. For years, British leaders—even those sympathetic to Israel—have privately expressed frustration over the lack of meaningful consequences for settlement growth.
Foreign secretary ends UK’s feigned helplessness with sanctions and condemnation of ‘ethnic cleansing’Will UK sanctions have any impact on ‘settler terrorists’? The indefatigable ability of UK Foreign Office ministers over decades to issue boilerplate statements of concern about the extension of illegal settlements in Israel has long been a matter of ridicule.Even some of the Conservative ministers who issued them, notably Alan Duncan and Alistair Burt, have agreed. Duncan described the UK stance towards settlements as weak and naive, while Burt wondered at the ability of the Foreign Office to find new forms of diplomatic condemnation that never amounted to any specific action. Margaret Thatcher, often torn as prime minister between her natural sympathy for Israel and her fear of the Gulf states falling under the sway of the Soviet Union, similarly expressed her anger at the settlements. Continue reading...
