October 7 'cannot justify what has happened in Gaza'
Full speech: Ed Miliband says entire occupation unlawful, slams 'settler
terrorists' and Israeli government that indulges them
British foreign secretary stresses his own Jewish heritage as he
expresses 'shame' over what has unfolded in Palestine, alleges 'ethnic
cleansing,' bans dealings with settlements
8 September 2026, 9:19 pm
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Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband addresses the House of Commons, announcing
a ban on all dealings with settlements, September 8, 2026.(House of
Commons handout)
_Below is the full text of a speech delivered by British Foreign
Secretary Ed Miliband on September 8, 2026, denouncing Israel's
occupation, accusing "settler terrorists" of government-indulged "ethnic
cleansing," and announcing sweeping UK sanctions on Israeli settlements
and the expansion of an arms embargo:_
Madame Deputy Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a statement
on Israel and Palestine.
I do so as a proud British Jew, someone with the deepest gratitude to
the State of Israel for giving a home to my grandmother after she lost
her husband, my grandfather, and 60 other family members at the hands of
the Nazis.
I remember visiting her in the 1970s in Tel Aviv and seeing the life and
the sanctuary Israel had provided. Indeed, some of my most joyful
childhood memories were picking oranges as a kid on the kibbutz where my
cousins lived.
Madame Deputy Speaker, my personal story and that of thousands of
British Jews is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or
around the world who questions Israel's right to exist as a homeland for
the Jewish people: you are wrong and we will call you out whenever you
engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel.
Madame Deputy Speaker, I know what the trauma of Hamas's terrorist
atrocity of October 7 meant and still means to people across Israel and
to Jews across the world. It was a murderous act by a murderous
terrorist organization designed to massacre and instill fear across a
whole population.
October 7 makes plain the grave threats that Israel faces. And it has
every right to defend itself. We should not only condemn those threats
but act against those who carry them out.
Iran continues to threaten Israel and Jews across the world.
We have already designated Iran's IRGC and we will do more today on
Iran's proxy groups. So today I can also announce we are sanctioning
Lebanese Hezbollah's financing arm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. So we are also acting this week
to report Iran to the UN Security Council for its nuclear violations,
alongside our allies. And I can announce today that we are also
reimposing major economic sanctions on Iran in line with the European
Union and the United States.
Madame Deputy Speaker, tackling these threats is just one of the
important, shared national security interests we have with Israel, on
which we will continue to co-operate.
I know too that so many members of the Jewish community now live in fear
in the face of rising antisemitism [2], including here in the UK.
Last week we commemorated the anniversary [3] of the Heaton Park attack
-- Jews murdered at their place of worship simply for their religion. An
outrage that was followed by antisemitic attacks in Golders Green,
including on the Hatzola ambulances.
And the everyday life of Jews in Britain is deeply affected by the
climate that such hate creates.
Armed police officers talk with members of the community near Heaton
Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on
October 2, 2025 (Paul Currie / AFP)
When I went to school in the 1980s, I did so without fear.
Today we need to face the truth: that is not the case for thousands of
Jewish children across the UK, children who have to go to school with
security guards outside their school.
Mr Speaker, no child should have to go to school facing this. And no
teacher should face antisemitism either. Whether it happens in our
schools, universities or workplaces or online or on our streets,
antisemitism is a scourge and an evil.
We are rightly putting in place an additional investment of £250 million
for community security. But we all have a responsibility to do more.
As part of this, I will in October host representatives of the J7, the
countries with the largest Jewish populations from across the world. We
will meet in the UK to discuss the different ways we can work across
borders to tackle antisemitism, including tackling online hate.
Protesters gather near Downing Street during a "national emergency"
rally organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism following a knife
attack in Golders Green, in London, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto
Pezzali)
So Madame Deputy Speaker, I am proud of my Jewishness and unwavering in
my support for the State of Israel.
And there is absolutely no contradiction between this and my support for
the State of Palestine. Indeed quite the opposite.
'A deep sense of shame'
The two-state solution is based on an explicit belief that the only
route to security for both peoples is to live side by side in peaceful
co-existence with freedom, security and self-determination.
Securing the two-state solution in its fullest form is the North Star of
this government's policy, and indeed of successive British governments
over decades.
And it is precisely this belief in the rights and freedoms of the
Israeli and Palestinian people that leads many, including me, to a deep
sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of
the international community.
In Gaza, the most unimaginable trauma and suffering in the last three
years -- death, destruction and dehumanization on an appalling scale.
A stain on the conscience of the world and of this country too.
And in the West Bank, the clear attempt to -- in the words of Israeli
Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich - and I quote -- "bury the idea of a
Palestinian State."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a ceremony marking the
establishment of the new Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Arugot in Gush
Etzion, in the West Bank, September 2, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
So Madame Deputy Speaker, there is a deeply painful contrast between our
professed commitment to a two-state solution, and the reality on the
ground in Gaza and the West Bank.
I pay tribute to my predecessors, the current Health Secretary and the
Right Honorable Member for Tottenham, for their tireless efforts on this
issue as well as my Right Honorable Friend the Member for Lincoln.
We should always be proud that it was a Labour government that took the
historic step of recognizing [4] the State of Palestine.
But the prime minister is right to say that the Labour government has
not done enough in the face of what is happening.
So today marks the beginning of a new approach. An approach that not
only calls out injustice and suffering but acts.
'Our argument is not with the people of Israel'
And in taking this stance, I make a very clear distinction -- which is
crucial for all of us in this debate: Our argument is not with the
people of Israel, with whom the UK has unshakeable bonds. Our argument
is with the conduct of its government.
And I also want to say emphatically to people in Britain and across the
world: Holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli
government is antisemitism, plain and simple.
What we seek today is to salvage the only course for peace and security
for Israelis and Palestinians -- the two-state solution.
Let me start with the situation in the West Bank.
Madame Deputy Speaker, at the time of the Oslo peace accords in 1993,
around 270,000 settlers lived in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Today it is some 770,000.
More settlements have been approved under the four years of this Israeli
government than in the previous 20 years.
An image taken from the West Bank village of Aqraba shows a new illegal
Israeli outpost being built above the village, south of the West Bank
city of Nablus on September 8, 2026. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP)
Let us spell out what this has meant for Palestinian communities.
Houses bulldozed. Roads and public infrastructure destroyed. Families
displaced from their homes. Community by community. Family by family.
Person by person.
Madame Deputy Speaker, 65 Palestinian communities completely expelled
since 2023 -- a total of over 4,000 Palestinians evicted from their
homes due to settler violence and state actions.
And in August, the crossing of a long-standing red line: the issuing of
E1 tenders for over 1,200 homes.
I visited a community in the area covered by E1 in 2014. The Bedouin
communities I met in Khan al-Ahmar had lived on that land for
generations.
E1 proposals would evict them and place settlements directly between
East Jerusalem and the West Bank, cutting through the heart of
Palestine.
Let's be clear what this means: the creation of a set of facts on the
ground to make the two-state solution unviable.
And on top of official state policy, settler terrorism is rampant. The
UN reports an average of six violent settler attacks against
Palestinians per day this year, the highest on record.
This picture taken from the E1 area northeast of Jerusalem shows
vehicles moving along a highway near the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale
Adumim on February 4, 2026. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP)
Take one example.
In Al-Mughayyir, 20 miles north of Jerusalem, settlers have encircled
the village and mounted a campaign of intimidation, largely under the
protection of the Israeli military.
Families in the village are increasingly cut off from accessing their
land, squeezed into ever smaller areas and have olive trees uprooted and
livestock stolen.
In the same community, just last week, two teenagers were shot when
settlers entered the village under police and military escort. Both died
before reaching hospital. Madame Deputy Speaker, five teenagers have now
been killed from their school this year.
'Ethnic cleansing…perpetrated by settler terrorists'
Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, has described what is
happening as -- I quote -- "a violent and criminal effort to ethnically
cleanse territories in the West Bank."
The former minister of health and retired brigadier general from the
IDF, Ephraim Sneh has said - and I quote again -- "this is ethnic
cleansing, to put it simply."
Ethnic cleansing is defined by the UN as "a purposeful policy designed
by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and
terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or
religious group from certain geographic areas."
The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians in areas of the West Bank -- perpetrated by settler
terrorists.
And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this
and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to
support the forced displacement of Palestinians.
People inspect damaged cars after an attack allegedly by settler
extremists in the village of Jalud, near the West Bank city of Nablus,
August 4, 2026. (FLASH90)
Now Madame Deputy Speaker, I recognize the gravity of saying this but
the truth is, it is the least the people who face such suffering
deserve. And it should be the prelude to justice.
Now for a long time, the British government has rightly said settlements
are illegal.
But we have remained silent on the question of the legality of the
occupation as a whole, which in 2024 the International Court of Justice
concluded was unlawful.
Official UK position: 'The occupation is unlawful'
Today I announce that the official view of the British Government is
that the occupation is unlawful.
Because of Israel's entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend
permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal
settlements.
Madame Deputy Speaker, our position is not just an overdue statement of
reality.
The government believes the unlawfulness of the occupation should be
reflected in the economic relationships we choose to have with the
occupied territories.
I do not believe that the British people want us supporting the
occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and
supermarkets.
So I can announce today that we will introduce an import ban on goods
from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.
People attend cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new settlement named
Doran in the Mount Hebron region of the West Bank, June 16, 2026. (Chaim
Goldberg/Flash90)
To do so, we will introduce a new comprehensive sanctions regime working
with my Right Honorable Friend the Business Secretary, with appropriate
religious exemptions.
And as part of this regime, we will go further.
We will take action against specific companies and individuals who
provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or
real estate for settlement expansion.
So to those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say
this, you will face the full force of UK sanctions.
Settlements are illegal. They should not be promoted in our country.
Earlier this year, shamefully, just a few miles from here, we saw an
expo advertising illegal settlement land. We must and we will ensure
this never happens again, so we will ban the advertising in the UK of
illegal settlements.
'I wholeheartedly oppose the BDS campaign'
The sanctions regime will target illegal settlements and settlement
expansion, not Israel.
We will continue to support important and valued trade with green line
Israel precisely because we support the two-state solution, including
security and prosperity for Israel.
For this reason, I wholeheartedly oppose the Boycott, Divestment,
Sanctions or BDS campaign.
Protesters carry posters and flags during an anti-Israel march in London
on May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Krych)
The legislation I have announced today will be in place within 6-9
months and we will also take more immediate steps.
Today we are sanctioning a further set of extremist settlers who have
supported or incited acts of violence against Palestinian communities.
And I can also announce that we are extending the existing global human
rights regime such that it will enable swifter action to deter
settlement expansion, including crucially seeking to present the
development of E1.
'Double lock' against arms sales for 'occupation'
I also want to address the question of arms sales. We have already
suspended over 30 arms licenses used by the IDF in Gaza. That suspension
remains fully in place.
We will now also refuse all license applications for arms and other
exports that materially contribute to the occupation, in effect a double
lock against arms sales. This means the ban on such exports will now
remain as long as the occupation persists.
To advance the two-state solution, we also need viable and effective
Palestinian governance.
So I urge the Palestinian Authority to accelerate reform and I urge
Israel to lift its withholding of revenues that is financially crippling
the provision of essential services in the West Bank.
The set of measures I have announced represents a clear message to the
government of Israel, to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories,
and to the world that we will not acquiesce in the destruction of the
two-state solution.
Israeli security forces raid the town of Anata, September 8, 2026.
(Jamal Awad/Flash90)
I turn now to Gaza.
The horror of October 7 appalled the world and had terrible echoes of
the centuries of persecution of the Jewish people.
Men, women, children and babies killed, mutilated, and tortured by Hamas
terrorists. People murdered whilst seeking to protect their families.
Young people massacred at a music festival. People abducted from their
homes.
As the 20-point peace plan [5] for Gaza sets out, this is one of many
reasons Hamas can play no role in the future governance of Gaza, it must
decommission its weapons and must dismantle its terrorist
infrastructure.
Israel has the right not to live in fear of vile terrorism, and the
Israeli state has the right to protect its people and defend its
territory.
October 7 'cannot justify what has happened in Gaza'
But Madame Deputy Speaker that cannot justify what has happened in Gaza.
Over 70,000 people have been killed, at least 20,000 of them children.
20,000 children.
The vast majority of the population is now displaced - nearly two
million people - who are now penned into just one-third of the
territory.
Life-saving humanitarian aid and access has been routinely blocked.
Hospitals and clinics have been destroyed. Over 60% of homes are in
ruins.
Tents housing displaced Palestinians are seen among homes destroyed
during the recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City, central
Gaza Strip, September 3, 2026. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)
Mr. Speaker, international humanitarian law imposes clear rules for
states fighting wars -- including to ensure access to food and medical
supplies, to avoid mass displacement of civilians, and to avoid the
targeting of civilians.
Serious and intentional violations of this law, if proven, amount to war
crimes.
What has occurred, including the actions of the IDF, have been examined
in depth by a number of organizations, including the UN Independent
International Commission of Inquiry.
The conclusions of these reports represent increasing evidence that war
crimes appear to have been committed.
And we support legal processes to determine this.
On the question of genocide, the UK has always supported full, robust
and fair judicial processes to consider allegations, with final
determinations made by competent courts before the British government
reaches a conclusion.
This has been the case for all of the genocides since the 1948 Genocide
Convention: Rwanda, Srebrenica, Cambodia, and acts against the Yazidi
people.
This will remain our policy. It is right that this issue has been
brought before the ICJ and I want to make it clear that we support the
court in coming to its determination.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds a hearing on South
Africa's request that the court order Israel to halt its military
operation in Gaza, May 24, 2024. (Nick Gammon/AFP)
So accountability for what has happened in Gaza matters.
But even more urgent is action to address the ongoing crisis. Because
today in Gaza, the death and suffering continue.
Nearly a year ago, Madame Deputy Speaker, a ceasefire was declared. Yet
over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed [6] since.
And the people of Gaza are experiencing a totally avoidable humanitarian
catastrophe, I am afraid, driven by decisions of the Israeli government.
Last week I talked to courageous doctors and humanitarian aid workers
who have served in Gaza. It was a heartbreaking conversation.
They recounted:
Children dying waiting for medical treatment. People forced to live next
to open sewage and without shelter. And food insecurity rampant.
I'm sure the whole House agrees, this is unconscionable.
Palestinian workers repair a war-damaged shop using fabric as a
substitute for construction supplies unavailable in Gaza, in Gaza City,
September 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
So I pledge we will continue to do everything we can to provide all the
humanitarian support possible to help the people of Gaza.
UK-supported hospitals in Gaza will enable around 800,000 medical
consultations this year and essential health services for patients. UK
expertise will deliver care to over 1,000 child amputees.
And we recently welcomed another wave of students from Gaza coming to
study in Britain and we will welcome more.
But in truth, unless Israel changes course, the situation will remain
dire. So we are taking further steps - both ourselves and with others.
Our extension of the global human rights sanctions regime will enable us
to target those responsible for violations of international humanitarian
law, whether in Gaza or anywhere else in the world.
And we will at the UN General Assembly in New York later this month
shine the clearest and harshest spotlight on what is happening and what
must change.
The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the
United Nations General Assembly, September 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted
Shaffrey)
And with Jordan, we will convene countries across the world to lead a
call for action on health and humanitarian access.
We will also lend the UK's voice to the growing global alliance of
countries -- led by Arab partners in the region -- calling for the full
implementation of the US-led 20 point plan, the rejection of extremism,
and for a lasting end to the cycles of violence.
As we implement the policy measures I have announced today, we will
continue to assess the government of Israel by its actions. We want to
see a new approach - in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Madame Deputy Speaker, today we refuse to be bystanders to further
suffering and to the destruction of the two state solution.
We call out what is unlawful.
We act on the import of goods from illegal settlements.
We ban advertising of illegal settlements
We act on services to prevent new settlement expansion.
We act on settler violence.
We support accountability for what has happened in Gaza.
And we pledge to galvanize the international community to confront the
ongoing and urgent humanitarian crisis.
Above all, we say: Britain is not silent in the face of deep injustice
and nor is it powerless.
Israeli security forces raid the Askar refugee camp in the West Bank, on
September 4, 2026. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
And today we act in concert with others in a broad international
coalition.
I can tell the House that today France and Canada are announcing,
alongside Britain, that they will also ban the import of goods from
illegal settlements.
Joining the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway -- which
have either banned goods or are in the process of doing so.
With many other countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal,
and Sweden -- pledging today they will support further action.
Madame Deputy Speaker, this is what Britain can achieve leading with
others.
And this is in our fundamental national interest because if there is one
lesson of recent decades, it is that we will never have stability in the
Middle East without a two-state solution.
And it is also the case that if we fail to stand up for the values that
this country has long held and fought for, we lose credibility and
influence in the world.
Protesters clash with a police during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel
rally in support of the group Palestine Action following the UK
government's announcement of a ban on it, at Trafalgar Square in central
London, Britain, June 23, 2025. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
Madame Deputy Speaker, my parents came here as Jewish refugees and found
sanctuary and a country that stood up for the rule of law, freedom and
self-determination.
Those are the values this government is standing up for today.
And I truly believe that the vast majority of the British people,
including in our communities with ties to the region, are united in
their desire to see humanitarian suffering end, and all sides commit to
a durable peace process.
And just as we want Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side, so
we have to live out those values in Britain.
Jews in Britain, Muslims in Britain, people of all faiths and none have
a right to live without prejudice or fear.
Madame Deputy Speaker, a Britain that upholds its values at home and
around the world.
A Britain that fights against oppression and suffering wherever it
occurs.
A Britain that stands up for what is right.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-speech-ed-miliband-lays-out-uks-new-approach-to-support-two-state-solution/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2026-09-09&utm_medium=email
--
Dr abraheim Weizfeld
Ph.D. UQÀM, M.A. York U., B.Sc. UdeW
[email protected]
514-235-7187
Montréal
Links:
------
[1]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-speech-ed-miliband-lays-out-uks-new-approach-to-support-two-state-solution/#openwebComments
[2]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/antisemitic-assaults-in-britain-surged-by-82-in-first-six-months-of-2026-report/
[3]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/manchester-synagogue-marks-one-year-since-deadly-yom-kippur-terror-attack/
[4]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-canada-australia-formally-announce-recognition-of-palestinian-state/
[5]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-trumps-comprehensive-plan-to-end-the-gaza-conflict/
[6]
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-it-killed-a-hamas-commander-who-led-oct-7-assault-on-border-post/
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