LONDON/TEL AVIV: ​Britain on Tuesday announced a trade ban on goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in coordination with France and Canada, the latest sanctions to target Israel as it faces growing diplomatic isolation.

British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said Britain could no longer simply “call out” injustice and suffering, but told the House of Commons that the country now had to “act” to oppose the expansion of settlements.

“Today we refuse to be bystanders to further suffering and to the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband said, referring to Britain’s long-held support for the two-state idea, which Israel opposes.

The US, through its ambassador to Israel, ‌has already criticized Britain’s ‌new sanctions, while two Israeli ministers called for measures to be ​taken ‌against ⁠Britain.

Miliband, who ​became ⁠Britain’s foreign minister in July, also said Britain’s position is that the occupation in the West Bank is unlawful, and that London believes that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank.

The impact on the £6 billion ($8.12 billion) of annual bilateral trade is likely to be minimal, with details unclear of how the UK will differentiate between goods originating in West Bank settlements and products made in Israel.

ISRAELI REACTION

Israel on Tuesday ordered the closure of Britain’s consulate in Jerusalem as retaliation after London led Western sanctions over violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israel said it would also expel British diplomats at a center monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza and bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces, as well as banning 12 British officials from visiting Israel.

“The accusations made today by the foreign secretary in the British Parliament were outrageous lies,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, after his British counterpart Ed Miliband accused Israeli settlers of “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank.

“The British move is morally distorted and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and in its electoral process,” he said, ahead of close-fought October 27 elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is championing settlements in the West Bank.

Saar said Israel was closing the British consulate which lies in east Jerusalem, part of the historically Palestinian area that Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital, a stance that is not internationally accepted, with the exception of a handful of countries including the United States under President Donald Trump.

“United Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and is under its full sovereignty,” Saar said.

“Any foreign activity in the area must be conducted through accepted and agreed channels and without violating Israel’s sovereignty.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the British ambassador in Tel ⁠Aviv to be expelled, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir asked Netanyahu ‌to close the British Consulate in East Jerusalem.

Israeli President Isaac ​Herzog meanwhile accused Britain of interfering in Israel’s upcoming ‌elections, due in late October.