Britain’s Foreign Secretary has insisted intelligence co-operation with Israel will continue, particularly on Iran, despite the diplomatic backlash over UK sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Ed Miliband said on Wednesday he remained confident that the security agency relationship would survive Israel’s diplomatic retaliation.
On Tuesday, he accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank as a dozen countries backed restrictions on trade with settlements in response to rising attacks on Palestinians.
The Conservatives warned that the decision could undermine a key relationship in fighting Tehran’s covert operations.
Security sources have told The National that information sharing between Mossad and British intelligence agencies had already “significantly dropped away” after the UK recognised a Palestinian state last year.
Take a stand
Andy Burnham, the prime minister, declared on Wednesday the announcement demonstrated the UK was taking a stand against injustice unfolding in the West Bank.
"Where people are being bullied out of their homes, intimidated, we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them," he said. "That is leadership on the world stage, Britain being true to what it’s always been about."
Mr Miliband said he was confident the relationship would endure. “I’m confident that our security co-operation with Israel will continue,” he told the BBC. “We have important intelligence and security relationships with Israel.”
The foreign secretary, who oversees MI6, stressed that Britain would work with Israeli intelligence services against Iran and highlighted new UK sanctions announced this week that target Tehran’s nuclear programme and hostile activities.
“We do believe in working with our Israeli partners when it comes to the threats they face from Iran,” he said.
But Israel has announced sweeping retaliation against Britain for the settlement sanctions. It has given 30 days' notice for the British consulate in East Jerusalem to close, removed UK personnel from the Gaza support centre, ended British training of Palestinian Authority security forces and barred 12 MPs from entering Israel.
While Mr Miliband conceded that the Israeli response was “regrettable and damaging”, he had anticipated retaliation but could not allow that to prevent Britain from acting against settlement expansion.
The measures were necessary because settlement expansion was threatening to make a future Palestinian state impossible, while settlers had taken Palestinian land and committed ethnic cleansing, he said.
Israel's reaction has focused on the UK and less on the 10 other states that followed suit, including France, for which this was a reversal in position after months of arguing that a ban on trade with Israeli settlements should be taken at EU level and not nationally.
The National understands that France changed tack after months of blockage by Germany and Italy but will keep pushing for an EU-wide ban. It was among the topics discussed between Mr Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting last week in London.
In the UK, the Conservatives have warned that the consequences could extend well beyond the West Bank.
Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat has previously warned that sanctions could affect the British-Israeli intelligence-sharing relationship. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also stated that Israeli intelligence had helped save British lives and that damaging security co-operation could leave the country more vulnerable to Iranian-directed activity.
Analysts believe that any further deterioration in intelligence co-operation with Israel could become politically significant if tensions with Iran escalate.
The government also faces fierce criticism from British Jewish leaders. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis described the sanctions as “a dark day for British Jews”, warning they could embolden those who use hatred against Jews.
Mr Miliband, who is Jewish, rejected any suggestion that Britain’s policy amounted to hostility towards Israel, arguing that the government wanted a “thriving relationship” despite the sanctions pushing relations to their lowest point in decades.
“We have a responsibility when it comes to the occupation to say loud and clear that we think it is unacceptable, we think it is unlawful, and we will act,” he stated.
But Rabbi Mervis has said the sanctions will embolden anti-Semitic groups and that it was “a dark day for British Jews”.
There is also an argument that the move could strengthen the hard-right Israeli parties in the exceptionally tight election next month that many western governments hope will see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lose power.
“I don't think that we should overstate our ability to influence the Israeli election in Israel,” said Mr Miliband. “The Israeli people make their own decisions on what happens in their election.”
