Image source, PA Media

After a day of diplomatic drama on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has defended the decision to sanction illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank - insisting the UK could not remain "silent or passive" over the issue.

He tells the BBC the prospect of a two-state solution is "being destroyed" by Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied territory - pointing to plans for a settlement which will effectively divide the area.

He also rejected that the sanctions announcement was, as the chief rabbi described, "a dark day for British Jews" - here's a reminder of what else the foreign secretary has said this morning.

In response to UK sanctions, Israel has banned 11 MPs from entering the country, while the UK consulate in Jerusalem is expected to shut in the next 30 days.

We have never heard a UK foreign secretary use stark language like "ethnic cleansing" and "settler terrorists" before, writes our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

We are now ending our live coverage. You can read more about the latest in the Middle East in our main story here.

An Israeli minister has written to the head of the country's border control, recommending that several British-linked organisations and individuals are banned from the country.

The list, submitted by Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, includes Oxfam, Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

The letter singles out several individuals including Professor Nick Maynard from MAP, and Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The Diaspora Ministry cannot bar individuals from entering Israel, but their recommendations are often accepted by the Population and Immigration Authority.

Image source, House of Commons

Over in Westminster, Prime Minister Andy Burnham says Britain is showing leadership by imposing new sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking during PMQs, he says leadership is about taking action and that PMs on both sides of the chamber have been talking about a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine for decades.

"Britain has to stand for something. Britain has to show leadership. Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice," he says.

You can follow PMQs live here.

Does Israel produce 25% of the UK’s pharmaceuticals?published at 12:19 BST 9 September

12:19 BST 9 September

By Nicholas Barrett

Earlier this week, the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said there would "without a doubt" be a strong US reaction to the UK's decision.

He told the BBC action could be taken by individual US states as well as at a central, federal level, warning of a "huge economic impact on British businessess".

Huckabee also told questioned whether the UK was aware that “25% of pharmaceuticals that are used in the UK are made in Israel”.

We can't find this figure in any official UK statistics. Douglas Alexander told the Commons in 2025 when he was trade minister that “one in eight of the prescribed drugs available through the National Health Service is provided by an Israeli company”.

Alexander may have been referring to Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli firm that manufactures drugs across Europe, including in the UK.

According to data published by the Office for National Statistics, the UK imported £27.6bn worth of medicinal and pharmaceutical products from across the world in 2025.

Of those imports, around £10.3m came from Israel, according to official figures.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the Commons that “medical supplies would be protected”.

Image source, EPA

Greens leader Zack Polanski says he is "proud" that his MPs had been "staunch in their standing up for peace" after Israel announced they would be banned from entering the country.

He adds that the government has taken "necessary first steps" with sanctions against illegal settlements in the West Bank.

All five of the Green Party's MPs have been banned from entering Israel: Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns.

You can read more on how other UK politicians reacted to the sanctions here.

A defining moment for UK-Israel relationspublished at 11:14 BST 9 September

11:14 BST 9 September

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

We've never heard a British foreign secretary use that kind of stark, strong language. Ethnic cleansing. Settler terrorists.

And he didn’t just describe Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal; that’s been British policy for a long time.

But, in line with the ICJ ruling of two years ago, he underscored that Israel’s occupation is illegal in its entirety.

This is a defining moment in relations between Britain and Israel. And 11 other countries echoed London’s announcement that they will or already have imposed their own restrictions.

In interviews with media this morning, Ed Miliband reiterated that these steps are not against the people of Israel but the policies of the Israeli government, and the urgent need to “save” any prospect of a two-state solution.

It’s been clear for some time that the possibility of a two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis is receding rapidly. Jewish settlements in the West Bank are expanding at a record rate.

The recent call for tenders to build in the area known as E1, in the heart of this territory, is being seen as a fatal blow. Israel’s far-right finance minister made that clear – that it would “bury the idea of Palestinian state".

Miliband emphasised that now was the moment to act.

The West Bank is an area west of the River Jordan which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 war.

Israel has built around 160 settlements housing 700,000 people since then, despite all Israeli settlements in the West Bank being illegal under international law. Around 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Settlement expansion has risen sharply since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2022, our Middle East Correspondent Lucy Williamson reports, following the war in Gaza and Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Since the beginning of 2025, the UN has recorded 316 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers, and more than 5,600 injured, to the end of July 2026.

Israel also recently opened up tenders for the construction of around 1,200 new homes in an area known as E1.

The development would effectively divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem and Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich previously said the project would "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".

As we've been reporting, Ed Miliband says the UK had to act against Israeli settlements in the West Bank before it was "too late" for the two-state solution.

He also released a joint statement yesterday with other foreign ministers, including those of Canada, Denmark, and France, accusing Israel of "undermining the possibility" of a two-state solution - an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

It proposes the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel.

Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a precondition.

The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel.

Hamas says that it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on 1967 de facto borders, without officially recognising Israel, if refugees were given the right to return.

Earlier efforts to settle the conflict saw Israel and Palestinian leaders sign a deal called the Oslo Peace Accords, in 1993. This was intended to provide a framework for peace talks. However, talks eventually collapsed with each side blaming the other.

Image source, PA Media

During his interviews across the BBC, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was asked about comments by the UK's chief rabbi criticising sanctions against Israeli settlements.

In a statement yesterday, Ephraim Mirvis described the government's announcement as "a dark day for British Jews".

He condemned the proposals as "gesture politics", which "ignore the deep concerns" raised by the Jewish community and could harm their safety.

"The measures announced amount to little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric and those who harbour a dangerous obsession with the Jewish State.

"These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target."

Mirvis says the UK's position comes at a time when the Jewish community "is more vulnerable than ever to the wave of extremism", adding it does "nothing to advance the cause of peace", nor does it make anyone safer.

Responding this morning, Miliband said he didn't agree with the chief rabbi and repeatedly described antisemitism as a "scourge" that must be dealt with.

Judith Moritz and Daniel Wittenberg
Special correspondent and senior producer

Image source, PA Media

A British-Israeli rabbi, whose wife and two daughters were killed by Palestinian militants in the West Bank, has criticised the UK’s sanctions on Israeli settlements as "singling out Jewish Israelis".

Rabbi Leo Dee, who now lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, was born in London. His wife, Lucy, and daughters, Maia and Rina, were shot dead as they drove through the Jordan Valley in 2023.

He has written an open letter to the prime minister, accusing the government of "hypocrisy" for imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements while not sanctioning the Palestinian Authority.

In his statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband urged the Palestinian Authority to "accelerate reform" in order "to advance the two-state solution".

Rabbi Dee wrote in his letter addressed to Andy Burnham: "You insist that you are not against Israelis. Yet you are prepared to single out Jewish Israelis like me for economic punishment.

"That is the hypocrisy I find so difficult to accept."

He added: "For decades, Palestinian terrorism has killed thousands of innocent Israelis, like my wife and daughters, while the Palestinian Authority has operated a system financially rewarding prisoners and the families of those killed carrying out attacks partially funded by the UK.

"Yet your moral outrage is directed not at those institutions, but at Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria."

The Palestinian Authority formally abolished its prisoner and "martyrs" payment system in 2025, replacing it with a needs-based welfare scheme.

However, Israel and others have alleged that payments to prisoners and families of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks have continued through alternative mechanisms – a claim the Palestinian Authority disputes.

Ed Miliband has insisted the UK had to act against illegal Israeli statements in the West Bank before "it was too late" to save the two-state solution.

Here's what we heard from the foreign secretary this morning on BBC Breakfast and Radio 4's Today programme:

• Miliband tells Breakfast the government was concerned it if waited longer it would be "too late" for a two-state solution
• He says he is a "proud British Jew" and does not accept that Britain cannot stand up for the rule of law while countering antisemitism at the same time
• Miliband regrets that the UK consulate in Jerusalem is being forced to close but insists the government "could not simply stand by because we feared Israeli reaction"

• The foreign secretary also tells Today he disagrees with the UK chief rabbi describing his announcement a "truly dark day for British Jews" and says everyone has a responsibility to call out antisemitism
• Miliband is confident the UK will be able to enforce the sanctions and says the measures will seek to "have an impact on the services provided to expand the occupation"

Webb asks Miliband about upcoming Palestinian elections, in which Hamas has said it plans to stand. Will there be sanctions for the Palestinians if they do?

Miliband says the UK government does not want Hamas to run, and keeps its options open when it comes to a possible reaction.

He says Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel were a "murderous atrocity" and that the group can play "no role in the future of Gaza".

The foreign secretary says Hamas has to disarm, and a 20-point peace plan for Gaza needs to be implemented, before a "proper peace process" can return.

Finally, Webb asks Miliband about the word "genocide". Why doesn't Miliband use it at the moment to refer to Israel's actions in Gaza?

Miliband says he is "deeply concerned about obviously what's happened in Gaza" and that he said yesterday there was "increasing evidence of war crimes".

But "the right thing to do" is to wait for the ICJ to rule on the issue first, as Miliband says this has previously been the approach of the British state.

Are we ready for the backlash, particularly when it comes to trade and security co-operation with Israel, Webb asks?

Miliband says the UK has "important intelligence and security relationships with Israel" and he is confident they will continue.

On Israel's counter-measures announced yesterday, Miliband says they are "regrettable and damaging".

But he says he wants to bring in another voice that "hasn't been in this discussion so far".

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian ambassador in the UK are "very, very clear" that they want the UK to act, Miliband adds.

Israel closing the UK's East Jerusalem consulate will be "damaging for the Palestinian people", he says.

"But it is right to act because the bigger danger here is the wider suffering and oppression of the Palestinian people, which is continuing unabated and we have a responsibility to seek to make a difference to that."

Miliband is now pressed on the timing of the announcement so close to elections in Israel and whether the move bolsters Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he prepares to stand for re-election.

"We don't set our compass by what is happening in the Israeli elections," says Miliband, adding that Britain must take its own responsibilities about what it thinks is right.

He adds that the Israeli people will make their own decisions in their elections but says he believes the Israeli government is making their country more isolated in the international community.

The foreign secretary also says that while sanctions have their challenges, he is "confident" the UK will be able to enforce the measures.

Pushed on whether sanctions could also cover Israeli banks, Miliband says the measures are about "seeking to have an impact on the services provided to expand the occupation".

Today presenter Justin Webb asks another question about the safety of Jewish people in the UK in light of yesterday's sanctions announcement.

Webb asks Miliband: "I don't know whether you're intending to go to a synagogue this weekend, as many British Jews will be, many of whom will feel less safe. What do you say, not to [Chief Rabbi] Ephraim Mirvis, but to them, to individuals. Are you going?"

"I don't go to synagogue," Miliband begins his answer.

Webb interrupts: "Isn't that then the point? That actually for a lot of British Jews, they really feel this, they have to have security duties at synagogues. They know that there have been violent attacks, and that is why when Ephraim Mirvis uses those words they mean an awful lot to them and perhaps, frankly, less to you."

"No I don't agree with that, Justin," Miliband replies. "We all have a responsibility to call out and act on antisemitism, and I could not be clearer and could not have been clearer yesterday about our responsibilities as a society."

Antisemitism is "a scourge and an evil" whether it takes place in schools, online, or in workplaces, Miliband says, adding that the government and society has a responsibility to counter it.

Miliband is asked by presenter Justin Webb if the chief rabbi is wrong to call his announcement a "truly dark day for British Jews" and whether it harms the interests of British Jews in the UK.

"I don't agree with the chief rabbi," Miliband tells the Today programme.

Webb says that the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is making the point that the government is choosing to focus on this one issue rather than the terrible things other governments are also doing around the world.

Miliband rejects this and says he is taking action across a number of fronts and points to how the government is standing with Ukraine against Russian aggression.

He says he is not going to sit and watch the suffering of Palestinian people both in the West Bank and Gaza and stay silent.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is now speaking to the Today programme on Radio 4.

You can watch live by clicking the link at the top of the page.

Image source, Reuters

Before Ed Miliband appeared on BBC Breakfast, we heard from a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in London, who says the new sanctions were imposed due to "internal UK politics".

"This comes down to politics," Alex Gandler tells the Radio 4's Today programme, explaining that "the timing could not be worse than it is" with less than 50 days to go until elections in Israel and Jewish High Holy Days approaching.

He says the decision "creates an atmosphere for violence against Jews" and adds that it "creates a fertile ground for antisemitism to flourish".

Gandler calls the sanctions a "nuclear option", especially considering Israel has been at war for the past few years and "is fighting a shared enemy in Iran".

Miliband says he regrets Israel's response to the sanctions and the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem.

He explains that the government weighed up the costs and benefits of taking action but "could not simply stand by because we feared Israeli reaction".

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".

We'll here more from the foreign secretary on Radio 4's Today programme at 08:10 BST.

Asked if he feels British Jews are more at risk today than they were yesterday, Miliband says no.

He says there is a range of views in the Jewish community, with some groups supporting the sanctions.

"But absolutely the fight against antisemitism is a job for us all, members of the government and members of our society," he says.

Miliband says he does not feel the sanctions risk emboldening Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and diluting the prospect of a two-state solution even further.

Before making the decision, he says he spoke to many groups representing British Jews, but also representatives of the Palestinians.

They told him they believe the international community is "standing by" while the prospect of Palestinian statehood is being "destroyed".

The UK government made yesterday's announcement out of "deep concern" and that if the government waited any longer, it would be "too late for that two-state solution".