“Grotesquely Inadequate”: UK Suspending Trade Talks With Israel Over Gaza

The U.K. government said on Tuesday that it is suspending free trade talks with Israel and imposing sanctions on some settlements in the occupied West Bank over Israel’s recent escalation in Gaza — an announcement being slammed by pro-Palestine advocates as “grotesquely inadequate.”

In remarks to Parliament, Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticized Israel’s recent escalation of its assault on Gaza and its lengthy total aid blockade on the region. He said that Israel’s plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza is “morally unjustifiable” and “wholly disproportionate.”

“History will judge them,” Lammy said, ignoring the role of the U.K. and leaders of his own party in allowing Israel’s genocide to reach this point. “Blocking aid. Expanding the war. Dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible. And it must stop.”

He said that the government is levying sanctions on three individuals and four entities involved in settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

The announcement came after U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “horrified by the escalation,” following a joint statement with the French and Canadian governments threatening “concrete action” against Israel and calling for a ceasefire on Monday.

The EU also announced on Tuesday that it is going to launch a review of the EU’s trade agreement with Israel amid the current escalation.

The U.K. has been in negotiations for a new free trade agreement with Israel since 2022, launched under conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Lammy said the existing trade agreement between the two governments is still in effect.

The U.K. has long faced criticism from advocates for Palestinian rights for the government’s support of Israel.

The Labour government announced shortly after taking control last year that it was suspending 29 of the U.K’s 350 arms licenses to Israel, in a departure from the conservative government. However, data analyzed by pro-Palestine groups has shown that the U.K. has exported thousands of munitions to Israel since the suspension took effect — raising questions over whether the U.K. continued supposedly suspended shipments of F-35 jet parts.

Advocates for Palestinian rights said that the government’s actions do not erase the U.K.’s deep complicity in the genocide.

U.K. group Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the moves “grotesquely inadequate” and called for a full arms embargo.

“Today could be a turning point, where the government begins to undo the depths of its complicity in Israel’s genocide, by treating Israel not as an ally, but as a rogue state carrying out atrocities. Or, without further action, it will be recognised as just a last ditch attempt to salvage its reputation as a government that has enabled these crimes,” the group said.

“Suspending the trade negotiations is a positive step forward but without bolder action this will have little impact. Without suspending parts for Israeli F-35 fighter jets, the UK Government remains complicit in the deaths of thousands of civilians across Gaza,” said Halima Begum, Oxfam GB’s executive director, in a statement.

“The Foreign Secretary should now suspend all arms exports to Israel and impose a full package of sanctions on political leaders and settlers in Israel who are seeking to erase Palestine from the map,” Begum went on.

Meanwhile, following Lammy’s announcement, left-wing members of Parliament grilled Lammy to account for arms exports to Israel, which have soared under Labour, but he refused to answer.

“I just asked the Foreign Secretary why arms sales to Israel under this Labour government now exceed those under the Tories. He dismissed it as ‘clickbait,’” said MP Zarah Sultana on social media. “There’s nothing clickbait about genocide. He has Palestinian blood on his hands.”