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Europe Unites to Pressure Israel, Breaking With U.S.

Britain once followed in France’s slipstream when it came to pressuring Israel. Under new leadership, it is spearheading opposition to Israeli settlements, risking American anger.

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Reporting from Paris

Sept. 9, 2026

When Britain confirmed last September that it would recognize a Palestinian state, it was pulled in the wake of France, which had signaled a few months earlier that it planned to take the symbolically freighted step.

On Tuesday, almost a year later, Britain was the one to seize the initiative. The British government announced, followed by France and Canada, that it would stop trading with Jewish settlements in the West Bank. It went so far as to accuse some settlers of engaging in the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.

This diplomatic sequencing speaks partly to domestic politics in each country. Last year, President Emmanuel Macron of France, entering the twilight of his term, was eager to cement his legacy. Now, a new British prime minister, Andy Burnham, wants to mollify Labour Party members appalled by the suffering in Gaza and angry that Britain hasn’t done more about it.

Yet the cumulative impact is strikingly united European pressure on Israel. It has left the Israeli government bitterly estranged from Europe, at odds with its two largest military powers — once stalwart allies — and facing economic punishment that analysts said could prove to be more than symbolic.

“The idea of boycotting goods from settlements or even treating them differently in terms of customs and duties has always been talked about, but almost nothing has been done to date,” Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former United States ambassador to Israel, said. “Even the idea of clearly labeling goods from settlements, so as to distinguish them from ‘Made in Israel’ has not taken off.”

“Bottom line,” said Mr. Kurtzer, who now teaches at Princeton, “this could be a very significant economic blow to the settlements movement and any Israeli government that backs settlements.”

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