UK and allies impose sanctions on firms enabling West Bank settler violence

Labour backbenchers disappointed as new trade guidance over illegal settlements stops short of outright ban

The UK in alliance with a group of other western powers including France and Norway has announced it is imposing sanctions on six firms and one individual involved in enabling and financing the recent upsurge in settler violence in the West Bank .

However, the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper , disappointed many of her own backbenchers by stopping short of banning trade, saying instead the government was only issuing updated advice to British firms not to become involved in any economic activity with the illegal settlements.

Cooper told MPs it was difficult in practice to construct an enforceable trade ban but would keep examining the issue in alliance with international partners.

More than 130 Labour MPs, including all the party’s select committee chairs, had called for a complete ban on trade, saying the measure was necessary to fulfill orders issued by the international court of justice in 2024.

Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, told Cooper “the truth is that British firms are bankrolling annexations one settlement at a time”, adding she feared the government was “in danger of doing too little too late”.

The latest guidance explicitly advises UK businesses against economic and financial activity in illegal settlements in territories occupied by Israel since 1967, but does not amount to a ban or impose any penalty for noncompliance.

The government is also not hardening its existing advice on the need to clearly label products produced in illegal settlements.