Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has pushed back sharply against the UK’s chief rabbi, rejecting his warning that British Jews face greater danger after the government announced sanctions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In a direct and unusually public disagreement between a senior government minister and the head of the Orthodox Jewish community, Mr Miliband said he disagreed with Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who had described the move as a “truly dark day” that would, in his view, bolster the very extremism the sanctions were intended to target.
The foreign secretary told the BBC that anyone who holds British Jews, or Jews around the world, responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is engaging in antisemitism. He made clear that he held the chief rabbi in high regard while insisting on a fundamental difference over the consequences of the government’s decision.
The government’s case
The UK announced the sanctions earlier this week. The measures are aimed at companies and individuals providing construction and financing services to settlements, and at banning the advertising of illegal settlements in this country. The government says the restrictions could take up to nine months to put fully in place.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Miliband set out the government’s reasoning. He told MPs that the UK agreed there had been ethnic cleansing in parts of the occupied West Bank, accusing what he described as “settler terrorists” of driving Palestinians from their land. He said the Israeli government had, on too many occasions, turned a blind eye to this.
The foreign secretary said the new approach was needed in part because of plans for the E1 development, a controversial settlement project that would, if built out, effectively cut the occupied West Bank off from East Jerusalem and divide the territory.
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The Palestinian presidency welcomed the decision, calling it an important step towards confronting what it described as Israel’s colonial system and its violations against the Palestinian people.
A community divided
Reaction within the British Jewish community has been divided from the start. Sir Ephraim Mirvis spoke for the Orthodox community when he characterised the sanctions as little more than political flag-bearing for what he called mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric. He said gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel, and that the cumulative effect of punitive policies is to further embolden those who use hatred as a weapon against Jews.
The Jewish Leadership Council warned that the government’s decision risks becoming a de facto boycott of Israel, and accused Mr Miliband of yielding to pressure from the most extreme elements of British society. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the timing of the announcement, made before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year festival which begins on Friday, brings concerns for communal security at their highest levels.
Not everyone in the community has taken the same view. Na’amod, which describes itself as a movement of UK Jews seeking to end Israel’s occupation, welcomed the decision and said it had waited years for the British government to take action. It rejected the contention that the measures would contribute to antisemitism.
The Movement for Progressive Judaism said that while the vulnerability of British Jews must not be ignored, measures directed at Israeli settlements are not the same as an attack on Jews, and that people should take care not to collapse the distinction between them.
Rising antisemitism and extra policing
The dispute comes against a backdrop of rising antisemitic incidents across the UK. The Community Security Trust, an organisation that provides security support to the Jewish community, recorded 1,926 incidents of anti-Jewish hate across the UK in the first six months of 2026, a 21 per cent increase on the same period in 2025.
Greater Manchester Police announced on Wednesday that extra resources would be allocated during the Jewish High Holy Days to provide extra visibility and security and to ensure everyone can celebrate in safety. The force’s assistant chief Constable said officers would continue working with Jewish communities as they head into what is understood to be a period that may bring heightened concern.
Mr Miliband made clear that he saw the rise in antisemitism as a separate problem from the question of settlements, and one that required its own response. He said the government could, in his view, both do more to tackle antisemitism and stand up for British values abroad.
Broader diplomatic fallout
The sanctions have already caused a diplomatic row with Israel. The Israeli government has closed the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banned eleven MPs and a campaigner from the country. On Wednesday, Israel’s Diaspora Minister wrote to the head of Israeli border control recommending that several other British-linked organisations and individuals should be refused entry to Israel.
The list includes Oxfam, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Medical Aid for Palestinians. Israel has also signalled that further British-linked organisations could face similar restrictions.
Canada and France have also moved to ban goods from the settlements as part of a coordinated action with allies, framing the measures as a joint response to what they describe as a deterioration in the conditions for a future two-state solution.
Why it matters
This is the most significant public disagreement between the British government and the Orthodox Jewish community in recent years. The chief rabbi’s intervention gives the concerns of those who fear the sanctions will put British Jews at greater risk a very direct platform. At the same time, the government’s firm rejection of that view signals that ministers are prepared to accept a degree of domestic tension in pursuit of what they see as a principled foreign policy move.
The timing sharpens the stakes. With the Jewish New Year approaching and antisemitic incidents already well up on last year, the question of communal security is not abstract for the communities involved. The extra policing in areas such as Greater Manchester reflects an unease that is unlikely to disappear quickly.
What happens next
The sanctions themselves are not immediate in their full effect; the government expects it to take several months to put the trade restrictions and advertising ban into place. Over that period, the government’s relationship with elements of the British Jewish community is likely to remain strained, and the diplomatic row with Israel may deepen further if additional organisation bans are confirmed.
Ministers will face continuing questions about whether the measures can be implemented without worsening the security picture for British Jews, and about whether the diplomatic costs are justified by the impact on settlement activity. The answers to those questions will shape both domestic politics and the UK’s standing in the Middle East.
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