The UK is actively working on a comprehensive plan to ban all import and export transactions of goods and services with “illegal” Israeli settlements, Minister for Trade Chris Bryant announced on Wednesday.
Bryant made the comments during the Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls.
When asked about the status of sanctions on imports and exports with settlements, Bryant said, “It is time to move from simply labeling goods from illegal settlements to banning goods from illegal settlements.”
“Obviously, these are illegal settlements, and they are expanding,” he told the subcommittee, adding, “No British business in any form should be involved in the sustenance or expansion of these settlements.”
Bryant said that he was as concerned with service exports and imports as he is with goods, calling service exports “just as problematic, if not more problematic.”
UK, EU move to ban trade with settlements
He explained that some companies in the UK may be providing mortgages or financial support to people building in illegal settlements, or providing accountancy or legal services.
“We must address all four issues: import and export of goods and services,” he said.
However, Bryant acknowledged the challenges of enforcing many of these sanctions, especially as tariffs on settlement goods can be circumnavigated if Israel labels them as Israeli.
He noted that his counterparts in Spain and Ireland told him they “worry about the actual effectiveness of the measures” they are taking, and said the UK wants to ensure it imposes them effectively.
He told the committee that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Foreign Office (FCDO) have been working together for months “to try to get a serious plan of action in place” regarding the ban.
“There is a very strong moral argument for all this, and a very strong legal argument for all this, but actually making it effective is not simple.”
Regarding timelines, he told the subcommittee that it would be ideal to use the sanctions frameworks that already exist (either from the FCDO or DBT), rather than rely on primary legislation which is lengthy.
“We’ve been doing the work on precisely how this would work,” he concluded.
The EU has been working hard to impose a similar ban, but failed to reach a qualified majority on Monday during a session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas for her “obsessive campaign against Israel.”
“Israel’s relations with Europe should be based on dialogue and fairness,” he said. “Tricks like this do nothing to advance our shared interests.”
