US Lets UK Impose Sanctions on Israeli West Bank Settlements — SkimNews
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- Trump administration did not oppose a UK-led initiative imposing new sanctions on Israeli West Bank settlements, with PM Andy Burnham briefing Trump ahead of the announcement and Trump declining to push back, per U.S. officials and Western diplomats.
- United Kingdom announced Tuesday sanctions against individuals and entities involved in building West Bank settlements plus a ban on imported settlement goods, triggered by the Netanyahu government's decision to advance a new settlement in the sensitive E1 area that would split the West Bank and block a contiguous Palestinian state.
- Eleven other Western nations — Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden — joined the UK in announcing national or European restrictions on trade in settlement goods.
- Netanyahu government retaliated by closing the UK consulate in East Jerusalem, expelling British diplomats and military officers posted to a U.S.-led Gaza task force, and terminating a British military training mission in the West Bank.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to condemn the UK's move when asked by reporters, saying 'We share the goal of stability' in the West Bank.
- White House distanced itself from U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee's BBC comments calling the sanctions 'discrimination against the Jewish people,' with an official telling Axios the remarks 'were not coordinated with the White House' or State Department.
Why it matters: The U.S. decision not to block the 12-nation UK sanctions marks the most concrete Western pushback yet against Netanyahu's E1 settlement plan, which consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations have historically opposed. Israel's retaliation — expelling British diplomats from a U.S.-led Gaza task force — puts Trump in direct friction with European allies over Middle East policy.
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