Trump Administration Declines to Block British Sanctions

The Trump administration chose not to oppose a British-led initiative imposing fresh sanctions on Israeli settlements, and made no effort to prevent it, according to a report by journalist Barak Ravid on Israel's Channel 12, citing senior American officials and Western diplomats.

The White House's decision to refrain from blocking the British move—which was joined by 12 other Western countries—signals Washington's growing frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and its policies in Judea and Samaria (the biblical names for the West Bank), the report indicated.

According to Ravid, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with President Donald Trump ahead of announcing the sanctions and briefed him on the plan. Two sources familiar with the conversation said Trump did not object or ask Burnham to refrain from proceeding with the measures.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was questioned by reporters yesterday about the sanctions imposed on Israel but declined to condemn the action. "The president hasn't commented on it, and neither will I. The British informed us they were going to make this decision. We heard their arguments about the reasons for it. We share the goal of stability in the West Bank. We don't want to see an escalation of violence or tensions in the West Bank during a sensitive period in the region," Rubio stated.

On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is Jewish, announced a new package of sanctions against Israel during a speech in Parliament, declaring that the settlements are illegal and claiming there is ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Miliband announced a ban on purchasing goods from the settlements and sanctions against companies assisting the settlement enterprise.

In response to the British announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced a series of Israeli countermeasures. Sa'ar criticized the statements made in the British Parliament, saying "the accusations by the Labour government's foreign secretary in the British Parliament were outrageous and false."