Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, is urging the British government to reconsider planned sanctions and trade restrictions targeting Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, warning that the measures could hurt British Jews, damage UK-Israel relations and ultimately undermine efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Rabbi Mirvis said he presented those concerns directly to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband during a meeting Friday, amid reports that Britain is preparing punitive measures in response to Israeli plans to build housing in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.
“I welcomed the opportunity on Friday to meet with the Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon. Ed Miliband. While we share fervent hopes for a future of peace and security in the Middle East, I explained why I believe the UK Government’s intended sanctions will be counter-productive and even endanger such a vision of peace,” Rabbi Mirvis said in a post on social media.
The Chief Rabbi also warned that the move would be particularly troubling for British Jews amid what he described as unprecedented hostility toward Jews and Israel.
“I told the Foreign Secretary that many within the UK Jewish community will view such measures with deep dismay, at a time when the vilification of Jews, Judaism and the Jewish State has already reached unprecedented levels,” he added.
Rabbi Mirvis questioned whether the proposed sanctions would have any meaningful effect on Israeli government policy. Instead, he said, their economic impact could expand well beyond their intended targets and potentially develop into a broader boycott of Israel.
“The intended policy will not influence Israeli decision-making in the way the Government intends. Instead, it risks inflicting real harm across the region. Given the obvious challenges of defining and implementing such measures, there is a clear danger that they will spiral into a de facto boycott of trade with Israel more broadly, damaging the long-term relationship between our two countries and threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers,” continued Rabbi Mirvis.
The Chief Rabbi said British Jews could also bear an outsized share of the consequences because of their extensive religious, family, educational and charitable connections to Israel. He warned that heightened anti-Israel rhetoric has repeatedly been accompanied by increased hostility toward Jews.
“These measures will also disproportionately affect British Jews because of our close religious, family, charitable and educational ties to Israel. Over recent years, we have seen repeatedly that when rhetoric towards Israel escalates, hostility towards Jews is never far behind.”
Rabbi Mirvis made clear that he condemns attacks against Palestinians carried out by Israeli extremists, but argued that Britain’s proposed policies could perversely strengthen those responsible while punishing many others who reject such violence.
“I strongly condemn the reprehensible violence perpetrated against Palestinians by a small number of extremists, yet the UK Government’s proposals will only embolden the tiny minority who support such criminality, while penalizing countless others who abhor it.”
He also challenged the British government’s rationale for targeting Israel over construction in E1. Rabbi Mirvis noted that previous diplomatic frameworks for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have envisioned the strategically located area remaining under Israeli control.
“The stated justification for punishing an ally in this way, is Israel’s long-planned construction of homes in the E1 area. Yet successive peace efforts, from Oslo to Camp David and beyond, have envisaged a final agreement in which this area would remain under Israeli sovereignty. It is therefore difficult to escape the painful conclusion that domestic political considerations are driving foreign policy, the impact of which is negative both for prospects for peace in the Middle East and for the UK Jewish community,” concluded the Chief Rabbi.
Rabbi Mirvis’ intervention followed a report in The Times that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is preparing a series of measures in response to Israel’s E1 construction plans. Among the possibilities reportedly under consideration are restrictions on goods associated with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and sanctions against individuals involved in moving the housing plans forward.
Israel recently published a tender for seven residential complexes in E1 encompassing 1,234 housing units. Those homes are part of approximately 3,400 units that received approval for construction in the area last August.
Miliband responded to the tender by sharply condemning Israel and demanding that the plans be rescinded.
“This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” Miliband said.
The British foreign secretary maintained that construction in E1 conflicts with London’s commitment to establishing a Palestinian state and asserted that Israeli communities beyond the pre-1967 lines violate international law.
“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law,” he claimed.
Miliband said he personally conveyed Britain’s objections to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. He also revealed that London’s Foreign Office summoned Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires to formally protest the E1 plans.
“Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal,” said Miliband.
Miliband further signaled that the British government intends to unveil additional steps against Israel in the coming weeks.
“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the UK Foreign Secretary declared.
Sa’ar responded by forcefully rejecting Britain’s demands and accusing Miliband of addressing Israel in a condescending manner.
“I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words,” Sa’ar wrote on social media.
The Israeli foreign minister defended the right of Jews to live throughout Eretz Yisroel and invoked Britain’s own historic recognition of the Jewish people’s connection to the land.
“The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel – including in the area in question.”
Sa’ar then turned Britain’s criticism back on London, pointing to territories under British control far from the United Kingdom and accusing the government of applying a double standard to Israel.
“Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history.”
Sa’ar also rejected the suggestion that Israel had suddenly authorized a new E1 construction initiative. He said the underlying decision dates back to 2025 and that the tender process had already been moving forward for months before the latest documents were released.
“There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided.”
