British intelligence has been given assurances by its Israeli counterpart that information sharing with the UK will continue as before, Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, has said.
The disclosure counters predictions that his decision to impose a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements would lead to a collapse in cooperation between the agencies.
The exchanges of information are seen as mutually beneficial and it is understood that Israeli intelligence was never willing to become mired in any political dispute between the two governments.
Miliband insists the intelligence sharing from the UK has not aided the Israeli occupation or its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Miliband also expressed confidence that the US shared some of his exasperation with Israel’s reluctance to constrain the settlers in the West Bank, or to engage fully with the 20-point plan for Gaza set out by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
As yet there has been no explicit criticism of the UK’s actions by the White House.
Trump avoided taking a hard stance when pressed about the coalition of countries, including the UK, France, and Canada, that have imposed new sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“I’ll be speaking to Israel, I’ll be speaking to them, and I’ll find out what’s their thinking,” he said on Wednesday.
Trump, now locked in fighting midterm elections, appears reluctant to leap to the aid of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who persuaded him to go to war against Iran. That decision has pushed oil prices beyond $100 a barrel, helping to swell a threatened “blue wave” that could leave the Democrats in charge of both the House and the Senate.
There is also cross-party concern in the US at the violent tactics adopted by some Israeli settlers.
Miliband said on Sky News on Wednesday: “We obviously talked to the Americans in advance of our announcement. I think the whole international community, let me say this, has been quite frustrated, to put it mildly, with some of the actions of the Israeli government.
“I think there is real concern about what is happening … underlying so much of the conflicts in the Middle East is this failure to really grasp the situation between Israel and Palestine.
“It’s in our interest to act not just because it’s standing up for our values, but because it’s in our interests to have this two-state solution as a rock of stability in the Middle East.”
The US decision not to oppose the UK over its sanctions and ban on trade with the Israeli settlements follows conversations between Trump and the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, on Monday, as well as previous diplomatic exchanges at lower levels.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, was careful not to endorse the UK sanctions, but affirmed he shared the objective of securing greater stability.
Miliband can also claim credit for persuading Canada and France to join the trade ban, the surprise element in the package announced on Tuesday.
The agreement came together late in the process. Eight other European countries have announced their intention to introduce such measures or to support the measures within the EU, a statement of solidarity that represents probably less of a shift than headlines might suggest.
Some of the signatory countries had already taken steps independent of the EU, or had long been advocating for measures such as suspension of the Israel-EU trade agreement.
For France, the decision to join the British initiative was formalised relatively late during Emmanuel Macron’s trip to London, when he met Burnham on 3 September and celebrated the display of the Bayeux tapestry at the British Museum.
France acted after a Franco-Swedish proposal made to the EU27 in April appeared to be making little progress.
The French plan aimed to establish an embargo or tariff on products from the occupied territories, but resistance from a constellation of countries including Germany, Italy and Bulgaria blocked progress. The commission also appeared to raise objections.
Paris last year had led the push to recognise the state of Palestine as critical to the two-state solution, but much of the French diplomatic energy had subsequently drifted. The UK, along with Jordan, will hold a meeting concerning improving humanitarian supplies into Gaza at the UN general assembly later this month.
In advance of Miliband’s statement, Trump had been hinting that he might support the Argentinian claim to sovereignty over the Falklands, a proposal mooted by Netanyahu’s son.
But in a little-noticed move likely to please Washington, Miliband this week supplemented the action against Israel by announcing fresh nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, including targeting Iranian ships involved in “malign behaviour”.
The UK also said it was backing a motion to be put to the UN stating Iran was in breach of its obligations on nuclear proliferation.
The new sanctions are extended to cover energy, software, metals, gold and related activities such as shipping, insurance and banking. Most Iranian aircraft will be prohibited from landing in the UK.
In response to the UK ban on goods, not due to come into force for at least six months, Israel has said it will: close the British consulate in in occupied East Jerusalem; remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel; terminate the UK’s role in training Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank; and deny 12 mainly leftwing MPs entry to Israel.
