Labour MP leads cross-party push for UK sanctions on Israel

LONDON

A senior Labour Member of Parliament has led a cross-party push for the UK to impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel, citing concerns about military actions in the Gaza Strip and the potential annexation of the West Bank.

Richard Burgon, the MP for Leeds East, announced more than 60 parliamentarians have formally backed a parliamentary motion demanding a significant shift in diplomatic and economic policy.

"After the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli government is moving to annex the West Bank. Only sanctions – on arms, trade, the economy & Israeli officials – can stop these war crimes," he wrote Tuesday on social media.

The motion references a statement backed by 85 UN member states, including the UK, opposing the “de facto annexation of the West Bank” as a violation of international law.

It noted the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and must end “as rapidly as possible,” and all new settlement activity must cease.

The text adds that the court made clear that all states, including the UK, must not recognize the situation as lawful and must refrain from any aid or assistance that maintains it, as well as take steps to prevent economic or trade activity that entrenches it.

The motion also notes that the UK imposed widespread sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but similar measures have not been taken in response to Israel’s reported war crimes and repeated violations of international law.

It urges the government to meet its legal obligations following the ICJ opinion by banning trade and investment in goods and services linked to illegal Israeli settlements.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, with Israeli forces and illegal Israeli settlers carrying out attacks that include killings, arrests, property destruction, home demolitions, displacement and settlement expansion.

The attacks have killed at least 1,121 Palestinians and injured 11,700, in addition to the arrest of nearly 22,000 Palestinians.

Palestinians warn that the violations could pave the way for Israel to formally annex the West Bank, effectively ending the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as envisioned in UN resolutions.

The international community and the UN consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, an occupied Palestinian territory and view Israeli settlements there as illegal under international law.