Macron last year said Europe must “harden” its collective position on Israel given the dire humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave, and he found some success in convincing other Western democracies to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state last year.
Barrot said last week that the recent effort to sanction EU-wide trade with illegal West Bank settlements has been met resistance in Brussels.
US threats
Hours before the policy announcement Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggested the U.S. could retaliate against the U.K. over the move.
Huckabee, who over the weekend condemned the government’s “Jew hate” despite Miliband being Jewish, told the BBC that the decision would be a “discrimination against the Jewish people.” He also suggested that individual U.S. states — specifically Florida — might take trade action against the U.K.
Speaking at an awards ceremony in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog raised the prospect of other nations joining the U.K., and warned the imposition of trade sanctions on Israeli settlements would prove to be a “grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history,” according to a readout of the comments provided by Herzog’s office.
UNGA looming
It comes just two weeks before world leaders meet in New York for the U.N. General Assembly — and ahead of Burnham’s expected first in-person meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump since becoming British prime minister.