Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, has urged Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to reconsider planned British sanctions and trade restrictions targeting Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, warning that the measures could damage prospects for peace and harm British Jews.
Rabbi Mirvis said he raised his concerns during a meeting with Miliband on Friday, following reports that the UK is preparing measures in response to Israeli plans for residential construction in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.
“I welcomed the opportunity on Friday to meet with the Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon. Ed Miliband. While we share fervent hopes for a future of peace and security in the Middle East, I explained why I believe the UK Government’s intended sanctions will be counter-productive and even endanger such a vision of peace,” Rabbi Mirvis said in a post on social media.
“I told the Foreign Secretary that many within the UK Jewish community will view such measures with deep dismay, at a time when the vilification of Jews, Judaism and the Jewish State has already reached unprecedented levels,” he added.
Rabbi Mirvis argued that the proposed measures would be unlikely to change Israeli policy and could instead have broader economic and diplomatic consequences.
“The intended policy will not influence Israeli decision-making in the way the Government intends. Instead, it risks inflicting real harm across the region. Given the obvious challenges of defining and implementing such measures, there is a clear danger that they will spiral into a de facto boycott of trade with Israel more broadly, damaging the long-term relationship between our two countries and threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers,” continued Rabbi Mirvis.
He also warned that British Jews could be disproportionately affected because of their longstanding connections with Israel.
“These measures will also disproportionately affect British Jews because of our close religious, family, charitable and educational ties to Israel. Over recent years, we have seen repeatedly that when rhetoric towards Israel escalates, hostility towards Jews is never far behind.”
While condemning violence against Palestinians by Israeli extremists, Rabbi Mirvis said the proposed British response could have unintended consequences.
“I strongly condemn the reprehensible violence perpetrated against Palestinians by a small number of extremists, yet the UK Government’s proposals will only embolden the tiny minority who support such criminality, while penalizing countless others who abhor it.”
He also challenged Britain’s stated justification for the measures, pointing to past peace proposals that envisaged E1 remaining under Israeli sovereignty.
“The stated justification for punishing an ally in this way, is Israel’s long-planned construction of homes in the E1 area. Yet successive peace efforts, from Oslo to Camp David and beyond, have envisaged a final agreement in which this area would remain under Israeli sovereignty. It is therefore difficult to escape the painful conclusion that domestic political considerations are driving foreign policy, the impact of which is negative both for prospects for peace in the Middle East and for the UK Jewish community,” concluded the Chief Rabbi.
The exchange comes after The Times reported that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is preparing a package of measures following Israel’s plans for construction in E1. Reported options include restrictions on trade involving goods connected to Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and sanctions against individuals involved in advancing the construction.
Israel recently issued a tender covering seven residential compounds in E1, with a total of 1,234 housing units. The projects form part of roughly 3,400 units approved for the area last August.
Miliband condemned the tender and called for it to be withdrawn.
“This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” Miliband said.
“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law,” he claimed.
Miliband said he had raised the issue with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and that Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires had been summoned to Britain’s Foreign Office.
“Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal,” said Miliband.
He also indicated that Britain was preparing further action.
“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the UK Foreign Secretary declared.
Sa’ar rejected Britain’s demands, criticizing both the substance and tone of Miliband’s statement.
“I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words,” Sa’ar wrote on social media.
“The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel – including in the area in question.”
Sa’ar also accused Britain of hypocrisy in criticizing Israeli construction.
“Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history.”
He further disputed Britain’s portrayal of the E1 tender as a newly made decision.
“There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided.”