Israel again warns of retaliation if UK imposes sanctions over West Bank settlements

Gideon Sa'ar claims UK 'making big mistake'

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has again warned his country will retaliate if the UK imposes sanctions against it over the potential expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Jewish News reported yesterday that, addressing Parliament for the first time as foreign secretary, Ed Miliband said he would introduce a “comprehensive reset” of policy on Israel “in the coming weeks”.

He said the government would examine how to stop UK companies “financing, constructing or advertising new settlements” in the occupied West Bank.

Responding, Gideon Sa’ar said: “If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain.”

“If they act, I think they will be making a big mistake,” he said.

Asked how concerned he is about the prospect of sanctions, Sa’ar claimed Israel will respond and charged that any British measures would be politically motivated.

“There is a government there that is systematically acting against Israel. It has already harmed defence exports to us and imposed sanctions on ministers.

“What guides it is its domestic politics, and at the end of the month the Labour Party conference is convening,” he said.

Pressed on how Israel would respond, Sa’ar declined to elaborate, saying only: “There are tools. I’m saying this clearly and unequivocally. If they act, I think they will be making a major mistake. It will work the opposite way from how they may be dreaming it will work.”

Ed Miliband answers questions in the House of Commons as Foreign Secretary

Pressed further, he said: “Why hint at it? What I’ve said is enough. We are preparing. If they make a mistake, there will be a response.”

Miliband is expected to announce sanctions as soon as next week, in response to clear settlement expansion by Israel and increased settler violence.

Last month the tenders were opened up for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area – a strategically important area east of Jerusalem. The plans have drawn widespread international condemnation.

The development would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem.

Miliband said the plans are “illegal under international law” and called them “the crossing of a red line, as it cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable”.

PM Andy Burnham has also warned that Israel’s statement about the E1 area could “imperil or end” the two-state solution in the Middle East.

All settlements are illegal under international law and, under global pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in the area.