'We share the goal of stability': Rubio remarks restrained as western allies sanction Israel
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered relatively restrained remarks on Tuesday in response to western allies announcing a slew of unprecedented punitive moves against Israel, adding only that the US will not follow suit.
"We were made aware that they were going to make this decision," Rubio told reporters while on a trip to Colombia.
"We heard their argument as to why, but look, we share the goal of stability. We don't want to see some uptick in violence or an uptick in conflict or tensions in the West Bank at a very tenuous time. In the region, there's always tenuous times."
A Bloomberg report on Tuesday revealed that UK diplomats privately told their US counterparts ahead of the announcement that the new sanctions are largely symbolic and lack tangible impact.
The UK, in coordination with France and Canada on Tuesday, recognised the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, but not in Gaza, where more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
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The enclave is, by all accounts, the image of a wasteland, and Israel is still carrying out air strikes there despite a nearly year-old ceasefire agreement.
The three nations also declared the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory as illegal, based on the 2024 opinion by the International Court of Justice, and again without addressing the 19-year Israeli blockade of Gaza.
They further announced comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements and a ban on arms licences that uphold the Israeli occupation of the occupied West Bank, but that critics have said can be circumvented by rerouting supply chains and relabelling goods.
"One year ago, we recognised the State of Palestine. The time has come to take further action to uphold our commitment to protect the two-state solution, our interests and to stand up for our values, before it is too late," the joint statement from the UK, France, and Canada said.
That is despite no appetite inside Israel for a two-state solution, even from the opposition that may very well take the helm from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming October elections.
Under US President Donald Trump, Washington has also all but abandoned its official policy on a two-state solution.
"Settlements are illegal under international law. Canada, France, and the UK will therefore take steps to ban the importation of goods from settlements and enforce targeted measures against settlements and those who facilitate them or profit from them," they added.
The allies reaffirmed their staunch support for Israel.
"In taking this coordinated action, we reiterate our desire for a close and productive partnership with Israel, our enduring support for the Israeli people and our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security," they wrote.
That didn't stop US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee earlier this week - as indications emerged of the impending announcement - from saying on X that the British government had "lost it" and was filled with "Jew hate".
Florida Republican Congressman Randy Fine, a notoriously anti-Muslim voice on Capitol Hill, warned on X that his state "is one of Britain’s largest trading partners [and] they should understand that their vanity project in support of Muslim terror could cost them billions of dollars".
Reactions
Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the global Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment movement for Palestinian rights, called the measures announced against Israel "largely performative and ineffective".
"Insisting on letting 'humanitarian aid' into Gaza does not begin to end UK complicity," he said.
"Israel has completely and admittedly subsumed the occupation’s economy into its own, making any differentiation between the two nearly impossible, so there is no obligation for any state to differentiate either."
In Washington, the president of J Street, a pro-Israel advocacy organisation that backs a two-state solution, lauded the video statement made by UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on the new measures.
"Note to American leaders and those seeking future roles: this is what leadership on this issue looks like today," Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote.
Robert Satloff, the head of the resolutely pro-Israeli think tank The Washington Institute, on X called it a "sad day", as he slammed Miliband for denouncing antisemitism in his video while also declaring "anti-Israel policies".
This "only underscores the fact that these leaders know that singling out Israel for such 'special' attention smacks of the antisemitism they denounce", Satloff wrote.
The Israeli government routinely calls criticism of Israeli actions antisemitism, be it in response to a United Nations resolution, a government recognising Palestine, or a celebrity wearing a keffiyeh.
The advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East hailed Ottawa's announcement, calling it a "victory for the Palestine solidarity movement and everyone who wants Canadian trade policy to uphold human rights and international law".
“For years, we have warned that Canada has been facilitating the illicit trade with Israeli settlement businesses, even extending them economic benefits through the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement," Yara Shoufani, the organisation's president, said. "This announcement marks the first time that Israel will face material, economic consequences for its blatant violations of international law."
But Noah Shack, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Canada, "strongly" condemned the move.
"Rather than pursue an independent foreign policy grounded in Canada’s strategic interests and its stated approach of not ‘lecturing countries from afar,’ the government has chosen to follow the United Kingdom’s lead, in a move reportedly driven by domestic political considerations to appease the most extreme elements of society," he said.
Shack said sanctions will not help "to reform... [and] demilitarize the Palestinian state".
Impact
Israel has now said it is shutting down the British consulate in Jerusalem, banning a dozen British lawmakers from entering Israel, and expelling the British Support Team that trains the security forces of the Palestinian Authority (PA), among other measures.
The progressive think tank A New Policy, founded by two Biden administration officials who resigned over Washington's unconditional support for Israel, said on X that Israel's retaliation "harms US operational effectiveness" because the British Support Team worked under the umbrella of the US Security Coordinator (USSC) mission.
The mission coordinated with the Israeli military to ensure PA forces maintained the measure of stability that Israel sought in the occupied territories.
The British Support Team "provides the USSC with eyes and ears on-the-ground in the West Bank", A New Policy noted.
As part of its announcement on Israel on Tuesday, the UK government also introduced expanded sanctions on Iran that include restrictions on trade, its shipping vessels, and its air carriers.
This appeared to be in tandem with the US Treasury, which simultaneously announced sanctions on 36 individuals and companies who are said to have supported Iran's aviation sector through "covert front companies, foreign intermediaries, and deceptive transshipment routes that Iran relies on to obtain US-origin aircraft and sensitive technology".
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