UK vows anti-settler measures as Israel warns of retaliation

UK vows anti-settler measures as Israel warns of retaliation. AFP Published September 1, 2026 Updated September 1, 2026 11: 33pm.

Key points

• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar afterwards informed a podcast: "If Britain acts against the State of Israel, the State of Israel will act against Britain."
• More than 500, 000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank.
• The era in which it was feasible to act against the State of Israel and the State of Israel did not respond is over.
• The settlers left graffiti with threatening messages in Hebrew and criticism of the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, AFP pictures indicated.
• Israel has fought against foreign governments making any distinction between goods from Israel and West Bank settlements.

Britain's foreign secretary vowed a tough response to "appalling" violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, drawing threats from Israel that it would retaliate if the UK imposed sanctions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies have been ramping up backing for settlements in the run-up to close-fought elections, despite increasing attacks by extremist settlers who seek to drive out Palestinians.

But the matter has drawn mounting criticism from foreign governments, numerous of which had already seen their ties with Israel strained over its conduct of the Gaza war.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband remarked the world had "seen appalling settler terrorism and Palestinians driven from their homes", and vowed a "comprehensive reset of our policy".

"This administration will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution. We will act, and I will set out a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks, " Miliband remarked.

Saar did not explain how Israel would retaliate against Britain, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council and the world's fifth-largest economy, but it has reportedly looked at expelling diplomats.

"The era in which it was feasible to act against the State of Israel and the State of Israel did not respond is over. If they act, I think they will be making a major mistake, " Saar said, also accusing London of "meddling" in the October 27 election.

According to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has, his predecessor Keir Starmer was too soft on Israel, which has come under intense international criticism over its relentless offensive that flattened much of Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, the worst ever against Israel.

Starmer's administration did, even so, announce sanctions in June on six entities and one person "involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence" as part of a set of measures in coordination with a handful of other Western countries.

Miliband on Tuesday called the so-called E1 development plan – under which more than 1, 200 settler homes were greenlit by Israel last year – "the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable".

Israel lately went ahead with tenders for the project. It has long been resisted by the Palestinians as it would divide the West Bank's north and the south.

Miliband, the son of Jewish refugees, remarked that Britain was looking at "our wider economic relationship with the occupied territories".

"We do not want British companies financing, constructing or advertising new settlements, " he remarked.

Israel has fought against foreign governments making any distinction between goods from Israel and West Bank settlements. It are considered illegal under international law.

Israel lately expelled two Dutch diplomats from a US-led centre in charge of coordinating a fledgling Gaza ceasefire after the Netherlands, traditionally one of Europe's more pro-Israeli countries, banned trade from settlements.

According to The British embassy in Israel afterwards, it was participating in the centre at the request of the United States and to backing the Gaza peace plan, and that removing it would "undermine these joint efforts".

More than 500, 000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank. It israel has occupied since 1967, alongside three million Palestinians.

Extremist Israeli settlers, plenty of of whom believe in a biblical right to the territory, have been carrying out increasingly brazen attacks against Palestinians, including seizing their land and destroying their crops.

In one of the latest incidents, settlers on Tuesday tried to set fire to a mosque in the northern West Bank, in what the Palestinian ministry of religious affairs remarked was the 13th such desecration of a mosque this year.

Meanwhile, the settlers left graffiti with threatening messages in Hebrew and criticism of the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, AFP pictures indicated.

Israel has long enjoyed robust backing from the United States and Huckabee, an evangelical pastor, has long championed settlements.

But Huckabee issued rare criticism and described a group of settlers as "terrorists" after they tried to cut off Palestinian homes in Qusra, including one belonging to a US citizen.

For now, UK vows anti-settler measures as Israel warns of retaliation remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.