London will be on the wrong side with sanctions on Israel

“ Sand that happens, and other countries join [the sanctions], I think it will represent a serious miscalculation and a decision that will be on the wrong side of history,” said Isaac Herzog in a speech in Jerusalem.

The British Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, must announce new sanctions against settlements in the West Bank this afternoon, British Labour and Pension Secretary Pat McFadden said.

These measures will target “specifically the expansion of these settlements in the West Bank”, but “this does not mean in any way a boycott of all Israeli products,” he explained to the British television network Sky News.

Several British press agencies said that London was going to ban imports of products manufactured in settlements.

“ Sanctions are not the solution. We need dialogue. I say to all foreign governments: stop! Do not embark on the dead end of sanctions and boycotts ", said Herzog.

The Israeli President added that announcing such measures only a few weeks before the elections in Israel is “a flagrant interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation”.

“No one will benefit. Unfortunately, it will also harm the Palestinians”, depriving them of economic opportunities, Herzog added.

British measures arise when there is growing indignation in Western countries with the acceleration of enlargement and settlement construction in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

Violence has increased in the region since the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, with almost daily attacks by settlers and regular raids on Palestinian villages.

There are about three million Palestinians in the West Bank who live with more than 500,000 Israelis residing in these settlements, considered illegal by the UN and the international community.