France led 11 other countries in an announcement on Tuesday that they would sanction, or consider sanctioning, goods from Judea and Samaria in response to what they said is the Israeli government’s actions that undermine a “two-state solution.”
The countries singled out the marketing tenders for the E1 real estate development project in Ma’ale Admuim, a city outside Jerusalem.
“Today, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom confirm their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures,” the group stated.
The countries called for Israel to “immediately halt” all growth of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, bring Jews who engage in violence to account and investigate allegations against Israeli forces.
France, Canada and the United Kingdom said they welcome actions that Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have already taken and that they, too, would advance measures to ban trade in “settlement” goods.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, said on Tuesday that his country would ban products from Judea and Samaria. “The government believes the unlawfulness of the occupation should be reflected in the economic relationship we choose to have with the occupied territories,” Miliband said in Parliament.
The ban would come into effect next year, within six months, he said.
Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat protested the move, which he said risked “encouraging sectarianism and antisemitism at home.”
Two Israeli Cabinet ministers called for punitive diplomatic measures against the United Kingdom in response. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the British ambassador to Israel should be expelled.
On Sept. 5, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that France “has done more for the Palestinian cause than any other country since Oct. 7.” That prompted harsh-worded criticism from Israelis and French Jews.
Barrot spoke during an annual public diplomacy festival organized by his ministry at Sorbonne Nouvelle University’s Campus Nation in Paris.
Students challenged Barrot on France’s ties to Israel. He said that France led the world in promoting the Palestinian cause. When the students said that Spain did more, he said, “What did Spain do? You can’t name anything. It’s France. This is where the first humanitarian conference on Gaza happened. France was the origin of sanctions against settlers. France rallied the international community.”
Amichai Chikli, Israeli minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, stated that in the face of the “barbarity” of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “Barrot’s France found nothing more urgent than to double down on efforts for the ‘cause’ claimed by the assassins, the rapists and their supporters.”
