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Is the British government really, finally taking decisive action against Israel?
It’s certainly what Andy Burnham’s government wants you to believe. According to The Times, a “senior government source” says the new prime minister wants a much more “robust” position than the man he toppled, Keir Starmer. The source said that a trade ban will be imposed on illegal Israeli settlements, alongside sanctions on individuals associated with their colonisation.
The immediate trigger is Israel’s plan to build thousands of settlement homes in E1, a zone in the illegally occupied West Bank, splitting it in two. The Israeli government is not disguising its intent. When the project received final planning approval a year ago, Bezalel Smotrich – the far-right finance minister and de facto governor of the West Bank – boasted: “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”
But there is a much wider context.