The British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has announced that the UK and 11 other nations will impose economic sanctions on the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israel is having a conniption in response. The settlements’ very existence violates international law, and for decades, the Israelis have been getting away with expanding their occupation of the territory. Of late, settlers have been attacking the Palestinians who live in the West Bank. Now, there appear to be consequences for this aggression. It may signal a definite change in the way the world views Israel, or perhaps, it is better said that the sanctions formalize a change in that view.
The BBC reported:
Miliband says France and Canada will also announce a ban on the importing of goods from illegal settlements today
They will be joining the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway which have either banned goods or are in the process of doing so.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged today they will support further action too, Miliband says.
Amnesty International has said this could be “the sea change that is needed”, describing it as “hugely welcome.”
ActionAid UKdescribes the announcement as welcome and significant, if “long overdue”, saying it is the UK’s “first step” to “ending its complicity in Israel’s unlawful occupation”.
“As state-backed settler violence reaches record levels… the UK must also take further action to hold the Israeli government accountable,” a statement from the charity reads.
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, called it a “turning point in UK-Palestine relations.”
The Kosker Nazi government in Tel Aviv played the anti-semitic card almost immediately. Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign secretary, said, the moves represented blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process” and he says it carries “echoes” of “antisemitic wars.”
Well, Mr. Miliband is a Jew, so one must go to the self-loathing Jew card next if Mr. Saar is to be taken seriously. One is not willing to go that far. Mr. Miliband has many odd traits, but self-loathing is not among them.
One legitimate fear is that this action by the UK government will encourage anti-Jewish actions and attacks in the UK. The police and security forces will have to address that.
Anti-semitism is not the same as hating the behavior of the Israel government and settlers. Anti-semitism is pre-judging Jews because they are Jews. That is stupid. That is like disliking the Chinese because they are Chinese. Disliking Israelis because they are Israelis is dumb just as disliking people from the PRC because they are from the PRC is dumb. Disliking the actions and policies of Likud and its fellow travelers is no more anti-semitic than disliking the actions and policies of the Chinese Communist Party is anti-Chinese. It is basic set theory. Not all Jews are Israelis, not all Israelis are Likudniks.
The Israelis are going to retaliate, Mr. Saar said, with four different measures:
- The closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem
- The removal of British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel
- “The termination of British activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria [how the Israeli government refers to the West Bank] – under the ‘British Support Team in Ramallah'”
- And: “The denial of entry to Israel to 12 British elected representatives and other British nationals involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity, as well as those who deny the very existence of the State of Israel.”
It appears that the Israelis are over-reacting. The sanctions do not extend to Israel as a whole, but further actions against the Palestinians by settlers, the IDF or others under Israeli jurisdiction may well lead to that. What then will Mr. Saar do? He has shot his bolt.
The US government is not taking this well either. US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee (an ordained Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas) has said the US may well retaliate against the UK. Trade sanctions against the UK would be criminally stupid, but there are two things the Trump administration is: criminal and stupid.
Within Israel, this may benefit the government in the upcoming elections. Pressure from outside tends to get a “rally ’round the flag” response. With the mean Europeans and Canucks picking on little Israel, the Likudniks might convince a few wavering voters to stay with the regime.
In short, this has rearranged the pieces on the board, and it is too early to see who really benefits. To the extent that justice is involved, this move is an acknowledgement that the Israeli government has gone too far. Enforcement of these sanctions will determine if anything good will come of it.