Miliband’s modest step towards overdue sanctions
JVL Introduction
Peter Oborne and Imran Mulla writing in Middle East Eye praise Ed Miliband for his move to place UK sanctions on Israeli settlement goods and services, calling him “the first British foreign secretary to stand up against US power and resist Israeli pressure at the same time.” Their column, which we link to below, sees the plan as a sign of “a new, independent foreign policy”.
It is certainly a commendable step and one for which Miliband is facing hysterical opposition, as Oborne and Mulla point out. But it falls far short of the measures called for by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement – a call which has been shamefully ignored, ridiculed or denounced by Western governments for more than two decades. In that time we have seen the erasure of Palestine advancing relentlessly. It is not just the work of the current crop of fascists around Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
As JVL’s Media Officer I have written to the BBC’s Today programme reminding them of crucial inadequacies in their coverage, in particular their promotion of the idea that sanctioning Israel endangers British Jews. The text of that letter is reproduced below the MEE extract.
NOTE: The MEE article was published before Ed Miliband made his statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. More about MEE can be found here.
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Tue 8 Sep 2026. Read the original here.
Analysis: Ed Miliband is becoming the UK's most formidable foreign secretary in decades
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The ‘Today’ team need holding to account. I listened from 1974 until 2018. Legends in their own minds. Their “curation” of the news is world class – so much so that Netanyahu and Co regard them as the go to red light district par excellence. Fantastic to see Peter Osborne bearing down on them. I finally stopped listening not because of the JC pile on – that was 100% expected. I stopped listening when John Humphreys repeatedly got the time an hour out and no-one corrected him. The BBC broadcasting the incorrect time, during the morning rush hour. Sometimes it’s things like that that confirm precisely what you are our “national treasures” have become. So long Blighty, and thanks for all the fish.
If a Palestinian state had been established ten years ago – or twenty or thirty years ago – the October 7th attack would never have happened, and all the hundreds of Israelis who were killed that day (whether by Hamas or Israel) would still be alive.
And who is one of the main people who have done all they can over decades to prevent that from happening, and proud of the fact…. Benjamin Netanyahu of course, along with the religious extremists.
Netanyahu boasts of thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘for decades’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-boasts-of-thwarting-the-establishment-of-a-palestinian-state-for-decades/
JVL is again putting up a coherent, balanced and factual account, such as our biased and ignorant mainstream media is showing itself incapable of.
Does anyone here know why Milliband is so against BDS?!
The mission statement of Andy Burnham could be summed up as giving the appearance of change without actually delivering it:
https://www.declassifieduk.org/do-andy-burnhams-sanctions-on-israel-go-far-enough/
Tanja – I had to smile at your comment about John Humphreys, as fairly recently he wrote a column in The Guardian basically saying the programme had gone downhill since he left! You can imagine some of the comments…
It’s a very small step indeed, but let’s not forget that an avalanche can begin with a single stone. Or, to repeat Leonard Cohen, who was paraphrasing Rumi, “there’s a crack in everything,; that’s how the light gets in”.
Eleven countries, including France and Canada, have already followed our lead and more will undoubtedly follow them in the next few days or weeks. With each new country Israel will feel itself more exposed, will get more desperate, will show its contempt for the rest of the world; it’s a self~perpetuating slippery slope.
And back on home ground, although he hasn’t yet managed to choke out the word ‘genocide. his description of ‘ethnic cleansing’ comes pretty close, evoking memories of the bloody massacres in Bosnia, Serbia, et al. which are still fresh in our memories.
I also couldn’t help noticing that last night the BBC featured comments from both the Israeli AND the Palestinian ambassadors. A small move in the right direction.
The hillbilly degenerate settlers are facilitated for by the settler state, so sanction that. Also, stop providing any military support, like use if raf bases and arms. Lastly, ditch the ihra. If he can’t do that, this latest stunt isn’t even window dressing.
Excellent letter, Naomi!
The Today programme has for many years been occupied by the LM/UnHerd/’Institute of Ideas’ sect which has burrowed its way steadily rightwards while still operating like underground stalinist cadres…. I stopped listening a long time ago because it was bad for my heart.