{"id":117866,"date":"2025-05-20T19:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/117866\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:39:12","slug":"uk-government-suspends-free-trade-talks-with-israel-over-gaza-war-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/117866\/","title":{"rendered":"UK government suspends free trade talks with Israel over Gaza war | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British government says it will suspend new free trade negotiations with Israel due to its military conduct in the war on Gaza<\/a>, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days under bombardment and as a new ground offensive<\/a> has been launched.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the United Kingdom was imposing additional sanctions on illegal Israeli settler outposts in the occupied West Bank, while the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has also been summoned to the Foreign Office.<\/p>\n

This comes as the European Union voted to review its trade cooperation deal with Israel, the bloc\u2019s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The actions came a day after the UK, France and Canada<\/a> condemned Israel\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza and assaults and raids in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer ramped up his pointed criticism of Israel on Tuesday, saying the level of suffering by children in Gaza was \u201cutterly intolerable\u201d and repeating his call for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

As settler violence against Palestinians, backed by the Israeli army, has surged in recent months, Lammy said the persistent cycle of violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank demanded action.<\/p>\n

In addition to previous sanctions imposed, the UK has now imposed sanctions on another \u201cthree individuals, two illegal settler outposts and two organisations supporting violence against the Palestinian community\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

He said the UK\u2019s existing trade agreement with Israel is still in effect, but new discussions cannot be undertaken with an Israeli government pursuing \u201cegregious policies\u201d in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions,\u201d Lammy said. \u201cTheir consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer will also tell the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Hotovely, that \u201cthe 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible\u201d, Lammy added.<\/p>\n

Israel quickly denounced the UK\u2019s decision: \u201cEven prior to today\u2019s announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government,\u201d the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry called the UK sanctions \u201cunjustified and regrettable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Arms to Israel<\/p>\n

The Labour government has been heavily criticised at home for not saying or doing enough in support of Palestinians under constant fire and facing starvation in besieged Gaza.<\/p>\n

Labour MP Zarah Sultana accused Starmer\u2019s government of being \u201ccomplicit\u201d in a \u201ccampaign of collective punishment waged with impunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

She told Al Jazeera: \u201cFamilies have been obliterated, entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, and essential services like food, water and electricity deliberately targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a tragic accident of war. It is the predictable result of a campaign of collective punishment waged with impunity \u2026 The UK\u2019s failure to act is not just a moral disgrace \u2013 it is a political choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Labour Party leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn also told Al Jazeera the \u201conly one way the government can cease its complicity in genocide\u201d is by \u201cending military cooperation with Israel and imposing sanctions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although the Labour government suspended some arms export licences to\u00a0Israel, it made an exception for the F-35 fighter jet programme, citing its obligations to international supply chains.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a report<\/a> from the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine revealed earlier this month that the UK sent \u201c8,630 separate munitions\u201d since the partial arms suspension took effect in September.<\/p>\n

According to the UK government\u2019s own data released on Thursday, it approved 127.6 million pounds ($171m) worth of military equipment to Israel<\/a> in single-issue licences between October and December 2024 \u2013 despite the partial arms embargo coming into place in September.<\/p>\n

Last week, a High Court case<\/a> was launched challenging the UK\u2019s handling of arms export controls to Israel.<\/p>\n

Gearoid O Cuinn, founding director of the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), which has taken the UK government to court over the sale of weapons, told Al Jazeera that the government\u2019s decision to suspend a future trade deal has \u201cno bearing on the immediate catastrophe in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a future trade deal that is facilitating the killing and starving kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the ongoing supply of British weaponry and military support.\u201d<\/p>\n

EU votes to review Israel trade deal<\/p>\n

As international pressure intensifies on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, the European Commission has launched a review of its trade agreement with Israel in response to the \u201ccatastrophic\u201d situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said a \u201cstrong majority\u201d of EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels supported the review of the bloc\u2019s association agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n

The move aims to determine whether Israel has breached its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, speaking in parliament, welcomed the decision and said 17 of the EU\u2019s 27 member states had backed the proposal.<\/p>\n

Kallas also confirmed that EU sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers had been drawn up but remain blocked by one member state, which she did not name.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aid that Israel has allowed in is, of course, welcomed,\u201d Kallas said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a drop in the ocean. Aid must flow immediately, without obstruction and at scale, because this is what is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The British government says it will suspend new free trade negotiations with Israel due to its military conduct…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,299,4884,7424,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-117866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114541859067626726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}