Robbert

Exclusive: British diplomats have privately told the US that the new sanctions Ed Miliband is imposing on Israeli settlements today are largely symbolic and will have no material impact on the UK’s wider relationship with Israel on trade or security A behind-closed-doors diplomatic effort is underway to soothe the Trump administration’s response, amid fears that the sanctions could provide the first major setback in US relations for Andy Burnham, people familiar with the matter said Burnham spoke to Trump by phone on Monday afternoon and told him what was coming The reality that Britain’s relationship with Israel will largely continue as is, despite stronger rhetoric from ministers about a fundamental reset, may disappoint some on the left who the announcement is designed to win over Bloomberg’s @EllenAMilligan @AlbertoNardelli scooped that Miliband was preparing new sanctions on Israel last month. They reported that proposals under consideration included measures to prevent the exchange of goods and services with Israeli settlements Miliband has also looked at expanding existing human rights sanctions to cover the obstruction of aid, which has been blamed for exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The foreign secretary has also been looking at explicitly endorsing the International Court of Justice’s non-binding 2024 opinion that Israel’s occupation of territory that Britain now recognises as the state of Palestine is unlawful Still, at the time British officials acknowledged that any new actions might have limited impact. Traders can re-label goods to evade sanctions and the UK has long maintained that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal bloomberg.com/news/articles/…