Breaking: UK, France, Canada announce import ban on goods from Israeli settlements

Britain, France and Canada will ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a move that prompted a swift retaliation and could spark a broader geo-political storm.

While several smaller nations have already adopted similar policies, Tuesday's announcement from the three G7 powers is much more significant.

The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband revealed the plan in a speech in parliament on Tuesday, and two hours later, his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar announced that in response, his country would close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, among several other measures.

That facility had served as Britain's representative office for occupied Palestine. The UK's embassy in Tel Aviv remains unaffected.

An estimated 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

The announcement was widely telegraphed and drew condemnation from right-wing politicians in Israel, the country's president Isaac Herzog and US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee even before it was made official.

Israeli's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the British ambassador to be expelled.

Meanwhile, Mr Sa'ar said on top of closing the UK's consulate in East Jerusalem, the country's representatives would be removed from a support centre in Gaza and a training program in the West Bank. He also said 12 UK politicians who were "antisemitic" would be denied entry to Israel.

Israel's government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been criticised by much of the international community for accelerating the construction of settlements in the West Bank and not doing enough to stop violent attacks by Israelis on Palestinians there, while multiple wars have raged in the Middle East over the past three years.

The announcement by France, Britain and Canada on Tuesday also included commitments from nine other European nations that they intended to introduce or support similar bans in the future.

In his speech, Mr Miliband said "settler terrorists" were carrying out "ethnic cleansing of Palestinians" in the West Bank, and accused Israel's government of turning a "blind eye" to this.

Israel's government and PM have previously condemned settler violence, although some ministers have also openly campaigned for it.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced his country's ban on imports from Israeli settlements in a post on social media.

"Why are we doing this? Because the West Bank is close to exploding — there is frenzied expansion of the settlements, a flare up of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers, and acts of terror which have been attacked by Israeli authorities themselves," he wrote on X.

The import restrictions are not expected to have a significant impact on the economies of France, Britain, Canada or Israel, and experts have warned it will be difficult to enforce.

Dr Julie Norman, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at London-based think tank Chatham House, said the announcement was still significant.

"I think this is really important for middle powers to think about, that maybe directly their own ban or prohibition may not have a huge financial weight, but collectively with others, it will," she said.

Dr Norman said the ban could be extended in the future to include, specifically, IT companies, which would could hurt Israel's economy more.

Australia was not part of Tuesday's announcement, and in parliament earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government was "not at this time pursuing a blanket-style import ban" on goods from Israeli settlements.

However, she said Australia would look at "targeted measures" to "deter illegal settlements and settler violence".

Several countries, including the UK and Australia have in the past 12 months announced they would or have recognised a Palestinian state.

Israel's decision to press ahead with plans to build a settlement on a particularly controversial parcel of land near Jerusalem, called E1, has been denounced as a diplomatic red line by several Western governments, and was referenced specifically by the nations introducing bans as one of the reasons behind their decisions.