As the UK unveiled sanctions against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israel responded with fury, declaring it would shutter Britain’s diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, kick out UK military staff from an international coordination base near Gaza and ban nearly a dozen left-wing British members of parliament from entering Israel.
It was a blaring signal of defiance and a remarkable diplomatic escalation.
The UK had taken the action arguing it had a moral imperative to stop the “destruction” of the two-state solution – a future independent Palestinian state – at the hands of the Israeli government. It accused Israel’s government of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by settlers.
The standoff, which by the afternoon extended to a further 11 mostly European countries set to join the settlement trade ban, raised a crucial question: When Israel becomes isolated, the US as its superpower backer often steps in to provide a diplomatic shield. Was the US, too, going to condemn Britain’s policy?
Such a reprimand had been previewed by some observers. It felt even more likely when the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, appeared on the BBC before the UK announcement suggesting American “sanctions, repercussions or retaliations” could be coming for Britain, albeit that he didn’t know what these were and hadn’t spoken to President Trump.
But as Tuesday wore on, Washington’s response was notably muted.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked about the UK move by reporters on the way to Colombia, said: “Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did. We saw their announcement today but I don’t have any comment on it right now.”
He added that Britain had notified the administration ahead of time (most likely during a phone call Trump had with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday) and said the US shared “the goal of stability” at a tense time in the region and didn’t “want to see some uptick in violence… in the West Bank”.
It was hardly a withering rebuke of the British move, let alone any kind of punishment. In fact, Washington seemed to be sharing some of the concerns that motivated the move.
Asked about it on Wednesday, Trump said he would be speaking to Israel to understand their thinking, adding: “I understand exactly what’s going on, but I want to find out why all of a sudden has that happened.”
My understanding is that discussions about the US response were taking place at a high level within the administration on Tuesday. The baseline position appeared to be against any moves that could negatively impact American companies.
