Andy Burnham defended the UK Government's decision to impose trade sanctions on illegal Israeli West Bank settlements, telling MPs that Britain would always "stand with the underdog" against injustice. The move, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, has provoked a diplomatic and domestic backlash, with Israel closing a British consulate in East Jerusalem and banning a dozen MPs from entering the country, while Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis condemned the sanctions as "gesture politics" that could embolden anti-Semitism.

The sanctions, coordinated with allies including France and Canada, target companies and individuals linked to the occupied territory as part of a renewed push for a two-state solution. Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters were killed by Palestinian terrorists in 2023, accused Miliband of hypocrisy, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed Labour was risking domestic anti-Semitism to win back voters lost to the Greens ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Miliband, describing himself as "a proud British Jew," said he disagreed with the Chief Rabbi but remained confident that security cooperation with Israel would continue, while the Government awaits a response from Donald Trump.