All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban imports of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Taking to X on Thursday, September 10, Owaisi tagged Modi and called on the Indian government to take similar action after the UK announced restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements.
Owaisi said the British move came against the backdrop of the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and increasing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
He said 11 other countries were also set to introduce or back restrictions on trade involving goods from Israeli settlements.
“The Indian government should also take this step as soon as possible,” Owaisi said, arguing that such a decision would be significant in opposing what he described as Israel’s “growing oppression”.
UK announces settlement trade restrictions
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the measures in Parliament on Tuesday, saying Britain would prohibit imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
He said France and Canada would also announce similar restrictions, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden had expressed support for further measures.
Miliband also announced plans for a comprehensive sanctions regime, saying the UK needed to move beyond condemning the expansion of settlements and take concrete action.
“Today we refuse to be bystanders to further suffering and to the destruction of the two-state solution,” he told the House of Commons.
The UK, France and Canada are among 12 countries that have backed restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK said they intended to introduce national measures and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods from settlements deemed illegal under international law.
The ministers said Israel’s actions in the West Bank were undermining the prospects of a two-state solution.
Israel announces measures against UK
Israel rejected the British government’s accusations and announced retaliatory steps.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described Miliband’s statements as “outrageous lies” and said Israel would close Britain’s consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, which is accredited to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Saar further said the UK would lose its participation in the US-led coordination mission for Gaza and that British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank would be stopped.
He added that some elected UK officials and other nationals would be prohibited from entering Israel.
Saar accused the British Labour government of systematically acting against Israel and said the measures were being taken in response to what he called its “hostile actions”.
