An Israeli government spokesman has launched a scathing personal attack on Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, calling him a "failed figure" and a "joke" after Britain announced it would ban imports of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. David Mencer, a former Labour councillor now speaking for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Miliband and Prime Minister Andy Burnham of pursuing "domestic political pressures" ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election rather than genuine policy concerns, and claimed the move would make Britain's Jewish community feel "betrayed" and question their future in the country.

Miliband told MPs on Tuesday that the ban reflected a "new approach" to the West Bank, citing Israel's continuation of the controversial E1 settlement scheme, though critics have warned it risks becoming a "de facto boycott" of Israel, and the UK's chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, said the move would make British Jews less safe. In response, Israel closed its consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 11 British MPs from entering the country. Mencer, comparing Britain's diminished influence to that of France, said the policy would fail and that "no one here in Israel wants to see Ed Miliband in Israel," while Miliband, speaking to Sky News, said he regretted Israel's response but stood by the decision as "the right thing to do."