Hamas praise of Israeli sanctions shows Miliband made wrong choice – Badenoch

The Foreign Secretary earlier this week announced the UK would sanction goods from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank, which are widely viewed as illegal under international law.Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, has welcomed the move and described it as a step “in the right direction”.Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch criticised the Government in light of praise from the militant group, which was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in the October 7 2023 attacks that sparked the brutal conflict in Gaza.Mrs Badenoch told broadcasters on Friday: “I think the fact that a terrorist group is praising our Foreign Secretary for the sanctions regime that he has imposed on Israel shows that the wrong people are cheering, and the wrong decision has been made.“I don’t think that this is the right way to sort out the problem of settler violence or settler expansion.“Israel is in the middle of an election period. We should allow democracy to take its course, let the people of Israel vote in a government, and then we should work with whatever government that has been voted in.”Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during a visit to The Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA WireMrs Badenoch went on to suggest that the Government had pursued the sanctions programme because “Labour is more interested in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where they think this issue will help them win versus the Greens”.Reports that the sanctions programme were in motion began at the end of summer, before former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer stood down, triggering the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.The Government has meanwhile claimed the timing of the sanctions, which were co-ordinated with 11 other countries, is because of an important deadline in October for a major new Israeli settlement in the West Bank, named E1.Read MoreMr Miliband told the Commons this week that plans for the E1 development would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.Welcoming the sanctions package laid out by the Foreign Secretary, Hamas official Mr Naim is widely reported to have said: “The imposition of sanctions by Britain and other European countries and Canada on goods imported from the settlements of the occupied West Bank, and the London foreign minister’s use of the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ to describe the crimes of the settlers, are important steps in the right direction.”Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, on Friday suggested his Government will continue to “stand firm” against the sanctions.He said in a post on social media site X that he had told Israeli embassy officials in London they should “draw much strength” from the backing of Israelis in their dealings with the British Government.Mr Saar added: “Israel seeks good relations and cooperation with Britain.“But we will always stand firm in defence of our ancient rights in the Land of Israel and our national interests.”