Dear Helena,
Thank you for your email dated 8/9/2026 and for the good news of the British government's plan to ban trade in goods from illegal Israel settlements. We welcome this action. It's a good start.
We also welcome your reference to "settler terrorism, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists." Indeed, the Palestinians under occupation have suffered for decades at the hands of the settler terrorists, backed up by the Israeli state and the Israeli military.
Foreign Minister Miliband stated in Parliament: "Today I announce that the official view of the British Government is that the occupation is unlawful."
It was in 2004 that
an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice found the settlements to be illegal under international law. So it's taken the British government 22 years to realise this, but this is welcome even if it's taken this long.
We are interested to know what has brought about this change of heart. It looks like the Foreign Minister answered this in Parliament: "I do say that the campaigners on this issue have played an important role in this, and I think that the way in which actually young people, people across the country, and it's not just in Britain actually, it's across the world, have been mobilised on this issue should tell all of us in this House something about the deep sense of injustice people feel about what has unfolded."
So the huge demonstrations numbering millions, a movement never known before in British history, has helped bring this about. It's quite clear that this movement needs to continue - we must keep up the momentum with ever bigger demonstrations, meetings, protests and actions against Israeli armaments companies and companies supplying the Israeli military.
But while you and the government you support have singled out illegal settlements, you've let Israel off the hook. It's as though you see that the settlements are somehow separate from Israel itself. But it is Israel that has established the settlements on stolen Palestinian land. It is Israel that has built the infrastructure in the settlements. It is Israel that encourages Israelis to move into the illegal settlements through housing and numerous subsidies. It is Israel that sends its soldiers to protect the settlers, harass and kill Palestinians. The illegal settlements wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the state of Israel. So why aren't you sanctioning Israel?
You write: "The unbearable suffering that we have seen in Gaza in recent years is a moral emergency."
The Foreign Minister's statement: "In Gaza, the most unimaginable trauma and suffering in the last three years - death, destruction and dehumanisation on an appalling scale."
"What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF, have been examined in depth by a number of organisations, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry. The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed."
"So accountability for what has happened in Gaza matters." "Because today in Gaza, the death and suffering continue." "Unless Israel changes course, the situation will remain dire."
You write about your 'deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community.' And so you should have a deep sense of shame. Complicity in a genocide is as bad as it can get.
So when will the sanctions against Israel start? It's no good stopping a few settlement avocados getting into British supermarkets while the genocide against the people of Gaza continues. Britain has played an active part in this genocide. It continues to sell arms to Israel, including components for its F-35 warplanes and killer drones. It transfers US and German arms via the Royal Air Force base on Cyprus, continues to carry out surveillance flights over Gaza and provides Israel with intelligence. Britain continues to provide the trade and services needed by Israel to further destroy Gaza. And then there's the secret UK-Israel military HEZUK project.
We know people in Gaza. Most are forced to live in tents. They've just lived through one of the hottest summers on record. They've had to encounter disease, rats, snakes. And the bombs keep falling. Everyone we know has lost one or more loved-ones in their family. They've gone through three years of hell. Do you really want this to continue?
While the government announces sanctions against the West Bank settlements, it's clearly up to its neck in the genocide in Gaza. So how genuine is the government in this announcement? Research shows that British trade with Israeli settlement products represents less than one percent of UK-Israel trade. So is this some sort of cosmetic cover-up hiding Britain's complicity with a country whose crimes against humanity knows no bounds? Bloomberg reported that British diplomats have privately assured Washington that the measures were "largely symbolic" and would have no material impact on Britain's wider trade or security relationship with Israel. This wouldn't be a case of the Labour Party, recognising that opinion polls show that it will get booted out at the next election, is cynically trying to throw a few sops to the electorate?
The British government will have to do more than just this small gesture. For a start it will have to:
Impose full sanctions on Israel.
Impose a full arms embargo.
End RAF shadow R1 surveillance missions from RAF Akrotiri.
Strip charity tax exemption from organisations sending funds to the illegal settlements and also to the IDF.
Arrest the British citizens - at least 2,000 of them - who have served in the IDF in the Gaza genocide.
Deproscribe Palestine Action.
It looks like this Labour Government is trying to keep alive the West's discredited 'two-state solution.' This "solution" offers Palestinians disconnected enclaves - the equivalent of apartheid South Africa's Bantustans; along with what's left of Gaza. These fragments would apparently be called the Palestinian state.
In opposition to this, the one-state solution is gaining traction. This would be a state encompassing all the citizens of historic Palestine with everyone having a vote. Adhering to international law including the right of return.
Your support for sanctions on Iran is worrying. The Iranian people have suffered under sanctions for more than 40 years. It has resulted in the death of thousands of civilians. Children have died because essential medications haven't been available. Do you want some more Iranian children to die?
Haven't the Iranian people suffered enough during this illegal US/Israel war against them? Numerous war crimes have been carried out by the US and Israel. Such as the 28 February US bombing of Minab killing 168 Iranians including 120 school children; the 1 September US bombing of the wedding party in Kuhestak, Bandar Sirik; and the 7 April Israeli bombing of the Rafi'-Nia synagogue in Tehran. We notice that you haven't condemned any of these crimes.
You refer to Hezbollah. But no mention of Israel's crimes in Lebanon. Since March this year
the death toll is 4,383 with 12,406 wounded. At the moment Israel is proceeding through southern Lebanon destroying entire towns and bombing vital infrastructure in what has been described as a scorched earth policy. Most people are appalled at these crimes in both Lebanon and Gaza - and expect the British government to play a part in stopping them. It clearly is not.
You mention antisemitism. It will be good if you can come on board in the fight against this and all forms of bigotry and racism. 'Holding Jewish people responsible for the actions of the Israeli Government is antisemitism, plain and simple.' Absolutely. This is why the work of the PSC and the rest of the Palestine solidarity movement is so important. When Israel commits atrocities, this is the work of a settler-colonial state putting into practice its policies of Zionism. This does not represent Judaism. It is great to see that throughout the world a growing number of Jewish people, particularly young Jews, are opposing the crimes of Israel and are taking an active role in the Palestine solidarity movement.
Thanks for your email. There has clearly never been so much support for the Palestinian people. There's much to be done. The Palestinian people have suffered greatly for almost 80 years at the hands of Israel and its Western backers. We must do as much as we can to see their eventual freedom and liberation.
Best Wishes,
Hastings and District PSC
23 September 2026
Hastings and District PSC website.
