Miliband rejects chief rabbi’s claim that West Bank sanctions put UK Jews at risk. Foreign secretary says Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrong to suggest measures against Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe

Ed Miliband said the UK government’s sanctions, coordinated with France, Canada and nine other countries, were the ‘right thing to do’. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Aletha Adu Political correspondent

Wed 9 Sep 2026

Ed Miliband has rejected warnings from the UK’s chief rabbi that the government’s sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe, as he emphasised ministers can confront the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government while also fighting antisemitism.

The foreign secretary announced sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, with the government taking the position that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was unlawful.

The measures were coordinated with France, Canada and nine other countries that were also introducing sanctions on Israel over the increasing expansion of settlements, which the UK government says is threatening the future of a Palestinian state.

In a joint statement, leaders including Andy Burnham, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney said: “The time has come to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late.”... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/09/ed-miliband-rejects-chief-rabbi-claim-west-bank-sanctions-british-jews-less-safe

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The Guardian view on Britain’s new Middle East policy: an unlawful occupation must carry a price- Ed Miliband has delivered Britain’s toughest indictment of Israeli conduct in Palestinian lands - and rightly says this has economic consequences

Aqraba, West Bank:  A view of a new illegal Israeli outpost being built on Palestinian land south of Nablus Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images ...The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

 

Opinion 

Palestine 

 Tue 8 Sep 2026

Rarely in recent years has the Commons felt like the cockpit of history. On Tuesday it did. The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, placed Britain at the head of a 12-country coalition considering economic restrictions on Israel’s illegal settlements, with the UK, France and Canada committing to national trade bans.

The move comes after escalating numbers of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the West Bank. International opinion seemed to shift decisively after Israel gave the go-ahead for 1,200 homes in the E1 settlement that would cleave the West Bank into two – using illegal settlements to bury Palestinian statehood for good. Mr Miliband added that evidence of war crimes in Gaza was mounting, making the overdue case for Britain to recast its economic and military relationship with Israel.

Mr Miliband, who is Jewish and lost more than 60 relatives at the hands of the Nazis, declared himself to be a friend of Israel. But clearly he thinks friends should talk straight to each other. Mr Miliband has delivered perhaps the toughest official British indictment of Israeli conduct in recent history, declaring that “ethnic cleansing” is taking place in the West Bank and accusing members of Israel’s government of supporting forced displacement.

Probably the most consequential move by Mr Miliband is to formally declare the occupation of the Palestinian territories unlawful, in line with the international court of justice’s 2024 opinion. The import ban logically follows. But private acts will have to change too. British companies could soon have to ask whether they are profiting from – or helping to sustain – an illegal occupation.

To emphasise this point, the foreign secretary also promised to take action against those providing construction, infrastructure and financing services, because a goods-only ban would leave untouched the commercial activity sustaining unlawful settlements. He also committed to target extremist settlers and to refuse to license arms sales that “contribute to the occupation”. By simultaneously sanctioning Iran and Hezbollah, the UK is signalling that it recognises the threats Israel faces while opposing its illegal actions... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/08/the-guardian-view-on-britains-new-middle-east-policy-an-unlawful-occupation-must-carry-a-price

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Jordan is convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab and Islamic world over what it says is an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important Muslim site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”. The meeting on Wednesday – and the Jordanian warning – follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, by which only Muslims can pray at the site. On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right – mostly settlers led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir – stormed the area...

On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right stormed the area. Photograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images

Jordan

Jerusalem’s most important Muslim religious site facing ‘imminent’ threat of Israeli takeover, says Jordan

Country convenes emergency meeting of ministers from Arab and Islamic world, fearing such a move could ‘trigger a religious conflict’

Jordan is convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab and Islamic world over what it says is an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important Muslim site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”.

The meeting on Wednesday – and the Jordanian warning – follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, by which only Muslims can pray at the site.

On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right – mostly settlers led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir – stormed the area, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. They prayed and performed rituals all around the compound in what Jordanian officials said was the worst violation in modern history.

Amman has also been alarmed at a recent recruitment drive for religious Jews for a special Temple Mount police unit, and is braced for more direct challenges to traditional Jordanian custodianship by extremist Israeli leaders in the major Jewish holidays in September. This year, those holidays will come amid an intense election campaign, in which the far-right coalition of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be fighting for survival.

“This is a constant threat, a dangerous threat that we’re trying to counter in every tool that we have possible,” Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told the Guardian. “We warn that tampering with the status quo … could trigger a religious conflict that will reverberate beyond Palestine and Jordan into the whole Muslim world.”

Safadi, who will host Wednesday’s emergency meeting, bringing together his counterparts from Arab League countries, as well as Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, said it was “something that the whole international community should be aware of. Jerusalem is a tinderbox.

“We’re trying to explain the danger. We’re protesting legally. We are trying to create awareness of the imminent danger in the continuation of those Israeli measures.”

Jordan’s custodianship of al-Aqsa compound dates back to Ottoman times, and the status quo encompassing the city’s religious sites was enshrined in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. The Hashemite kingdom’s oversight in Jerusalem was expanded to cover Christian holy sites in the 20th century, and its custodianship was reaffirmed after the 1967 war, and in the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.

Infringement by Jewish extremists... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/04/jordan-convenes-emergency-meeting-israel-religious-conflict-jerusalem

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Nakba: Jewish voices are challenging the stories Israel tells about itself A film director, historian and Holocaust survivor speak to Al Jazeera as opinions shift.

Stephen Kapos and Gillian Mosely at the London screening of Planet Israel [Beardvoyage]

By Indlieb Farazi Saber

Published On 15 May 202615 May 2026

London, United Kingdom – The lights come up slowly inside a cinema in London’s buzzy Soho district, but nobody rushes for the exit.

As the credits roll, one woman lowers her face into her hands. A couple sit motionless. In the row ahead, someone exhales and says “Free Palestine”.

This screening of Planet Israel: A Cautionary Tale took place on the eve of Nakba Day, the annual commemoration of the 1948 forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians and the killing of thousands more during the creation of the Israeli state.

The documentary, set for UK-wide release from 5 June, explores how trauma, nationalism and militarisation have shaped Israeli society after October 7, 2023, and during the war on Gaza. Featuring interviews with historians, academics, former soldiers and everyday Israelis, the film arrives at a moment when old political certainties around Israel are fracturing — increasingly among Jewish and Israeli intellectuals, artists, rabbis and historians themselves.

“The media has not reported this,” the film’s director Gillian Mosely told Al Jazeera from her London home, days before the screening. “British Jews are being treated as a monolith, which I think is fuelling anti-Semitism.”... READ MORE   https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/5/15/nakba-jewish-voices-are-challenging-the-stories-israel-tells-about-itself

Screenshot from Planet Israel, featuring historian Avi Shlaim discussing Israel and shifting public perceptions [Planet Israel] Historian Avi Shlaim, who is featured in Planet Israel, spoke of a rupture between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

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Abby Martin exposes the media's role in normalizing genocide.... & The Empire Files premiered its highly anticipated film about the devastating impact our environment and planet are experiencing due to the United States military-industrial complex. Titled “Earth’s Greatest Enemy,”

The Empire Files’ Martin Is a Force To Be Reckoned With... 

In a world in which media consolidation has given the average American fewer options to choose from, independent outlets have become all the more important. Without them, the narrative—which is already tilted in the neoliberal order’s favor—would be wildly skewed, giving the government and their corporate allies free rein to abuse an ostensibly democratic system.

Social media and the internet in general, for all its faults, have enabled independent reporters and activists to push back against conventional wisdom, whether they’re correcting the record about an ahistorical narrative or something timely and newsworthy that’s so obviously one-sided.

One such journalist is Abby Martin, the indefatigable, unrelenting, probing, and uncompromising reporter who for more than a decade has helped shine a light on the excesses and wide-ranging abuses of the U.S. empire.

While there are plenty of journalists similarly confronting American hegemony with thought-provoking coverage and analysis, Martin, to her immense credit, takes the time to visit regions systematically crushed by Western influence, such as Palestine and Venezuela.

To say Martin is fearless would be wholly insufficient. Her coverage of colonialism and criticisms of the United States has not won her any favors from a government that often dismisses alternative journalism as enemy-influenced propaganda.... READ MORE  https://www.unftr.com/blog/progressive-spotlight-abby-martin

&

Ounka

@OunkaOnX

 

Abby Martin just exposed the media's role in normalizing genocide. 

 

"Palestinians telling their own stories, dictating their own narratives for the first time. That's why we see the urgency to censor their voices and to consolidate these narratives on social media. 

 

Israel's supporters often say Gaza's suffering is quote unquote tragic, but complex. Is complexity the new weapon of obfuscation in genocidal politics? This is the propaganda that's made it so overly difficult to talk about this issue, but it's the most simple issue in the world. It's the most clear cut issue in the world. It's an occupation that is illegal. And this occupying force is besieging a population in a ghetto and committing genocide against them. 

 

In what reality would 2.3 million Jewish people be allowed to be caged inside of an Arab nation, half children, cut off their electricity and water and then indiscriminately bomb them for two years? In what reality in our world would that be allowed to be possible? It is only the nature of anti-Islam, anti-Muslim bigotry that has made this justified. 

 

This is the most documented atrocity of our time. And it is a disgrace that it took a genocide for people to wake up"

 

https://x.com/i/status/2054417058868367414 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abby+martin

& 

Journalist Abby Martin’s new documentary takes aim at one of the world’s largest polluters: the U.S. military

On Oct. 18 [2025], The Empire Files premiered its highly anticipated film about the devastating impact our environment and planet are experiencing due to the United States military-industrial complex. Titled “Earth’s Greatest Enemy,” it follows journalists Abby Martin and Mike Prysner who spent years researching, studying, and traveling the world to report on the effects of the military's massive carbon footprint.... READ MORE   https://thesouthlander.com/abby-martin-earths-greatest-enemy/

"When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the Terrorist organizations build up from our own ranks [Jewish]." Albert Einstein April 10, 1948

 https://ifamericansknew.org/history/ter-einstein.html

 April 10, 1948

Mr. Shepard Rifkin
Exec. Director
American Friends of the Fighters
for the Freedom of Israel
149 Second Ave.
New York 3,N.Y.

Dear Sir:

When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine the first responsible for it would be the British and the second responsible for it the Terrorist organizations build up from our own ranks [Jewish].

I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people.

Sincerely yours,
Albert Einstein

 https://ifamericansknew.org/history/ter-einstein.html

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Voice of Rabbis "The recent military operations conducted by the State of Israel are strictly political and governmental maneuvers. They do not represent the Jewish people, nor are they sanctioned by the Holy Torah. Authentic Judaism is a covenant of Divine service and the sanctity of human life; the Torah does not authorize the waging of war under the banner of the Jewish name. The true protection of the Jewish nation rests solely upon Divine Providence, not upon the fleeting strength of human weaponry or secular military power. We categorically reject the claim of those who call themselves the “Jewish State” to act on behalf of world Jewry. For two millennia, the Jewish people have lived in exile by Divine decree, guided by a tradition of patience and peaceful conduct among the nations. .."

 Voice of Rabbis

@voiceofrabbis

PUBLIC STATEMENT Regarding Israeli Military Action Against Iran 

 

The Voice of Rabbis issues the following declaration: 

 

The recent military operations conducted by the State of Israel are strictly political and governmental maneuvers. They do not represent the Jewish people, nor are they sanctioned by the Holy Torah. Authentic Judaism is a covenant of Divine service and the sanctity of human life; the Torah does not authorize the waging of war under the banner of the Jewish name. 

 

The true protection of the Jewish nation rests solely upon Divine Providence, not upon the fleeting strength of human weaponry or secular military power. We categorically reject the claim of those who call themselves the “Jewish State” to act on behalf of world Jewry. For two millennia, the Jewish people have lived in exile by Divine decree, guided by a tradition of patience and peaceful conduct among the nations. 

 

We pray for de-escalation, for the protection of all innocent lives, and for the day when true peace will prevail throughout the world, as the Prophet declares: 

 

“I will banish bow and sword and war from the land, and I will let them lie down in safety.” (Hosea 2:20) 

 

Rabbi Abraham Silberstein, Senior Rabbi, Voice of Rabbis

 

https://x.com/voiceofrabbis/status/2027947952057057291 

 

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& 

 

Jewish Voice for Peace

 

@jvplive

 

Jewish Voice for Peace denounces the immoral and illegal war on Iran launched by the United States and Israel last night. 

 

These attacks expand the endless wars that could destroy the lives of tens of millions of people.  We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and against the U.S. and Israeli government’s imperial warmongering.