Over 130 lawyers warn UK sanctions on Israeli settlements don't go far enough

Submitted by Oscar Rickett on Tue, 09/15/2026 - 11:54 UK action on Israeli settlements falls far short, lawyers and former judges tell Prime Minister Andy Burnham in letter

A flag flies at the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, 9 September 2026 (Ammar Awad/Reuters) Off

More than 130 lawyers, former judges and legal academics have warned British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that sanctions announced last week by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband against Israeli settlements fail to meet the UK’s obligations under international law.

In a six-page letter sent to Burnham on Tuesday, the lawyers welcome the government’s decision to act alongside Canada and France, but state that “the action covered in the recent announcement falls far short” of Britain’s obligations to oppose Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory under a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling.

As part of last week’s announcement, the UK declared that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was illegal. Miliband told parliament that he agrees ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is taking place in the West Bank.

Government sources confirmed to MEE that Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights and in East Jerusalem will be also covered by the UK's new measures, as well as those in the occupied West Bank.

Eleven other countries - Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden - joined the UK in supporting or ⁠considering sanctions on trade in goods with settlements.

Signatories to the letter warning Burnham that these measures “fall far short” of Britain’s obligations include barrister Michael Mansfield, former lord justice of appeal Alan Moses, SOAS professor Nimer Sultany and Ralph Wilde, UCL professor of international law.

Limited actions

The letter calls for measures including extending the British sanctions to cover insurance, accountancy services and digital infrastructure.

The lawyers state that the government should confirm publicly that no UK public body, pension scheme or sovereign fund holds investments in settlements. They also call for the imposition of a full arms embargo on Israel.

'The elephant in the room is that the occupation is not a bug, it’s a feature'

- Nimer Sultany, SOAS professor

“The government’s decision to finally acknowledge that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank is illegal is welcome," Wilde said.

“But the consequences of this illegality for the UK and other states - special legal duties to take comprehensive action to bring this and other illegal actions by Israel, including its genocide in Gaza, to an end - are far more wide-ranging than the important but limited actions against settlements and settlers announced.”

“The elephant in the room is that the occupation is not a bug, it’s a feature,” SOAS professor of law Nimer Sultany said.

“Israel’s political consensus opposes Palestinian statehood. Thus, ending Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, as determined by the International Court of Justice, requires immediate, effective and comprehensive actions by the UK government, not a piecemeal approach.”

The lawyers’ letter refers to article 6(3) of the Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits transfers where a state knows the items would be used as part of a genocide, in crimes against humanity or grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

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“Having made that finding, the UK Government cannot treat that knowledge as absent,” the letter says. The lawyers go on to contrast the announced measures against Israel with Britain’s sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

These extended to Russian banks, energy companies, shipping networks, exports, investment activity and financial services, on the basis that those structures enable and finance the occupation.

The same logic has yet to be applied towards Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, the letter says.

The lawyers also call on British government to ensure money raised by UK-registered charities is not used to support settlement activities.

Labour MP Melanie Ward said in June that Israeli settlements had received at least £28m in donations from 32 charities in England and Wales. The Charity Commission announced in August a fact-finding inquiry into charities working in settlements.

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