Civil society urgently demand UK Government ban imports of goods from Israel’s illegal settlements to protect against widespread involvement in money laundering
12.03.26: TODAY, 21 UK, international and Palestinian civil society organisations, including UK trade unions, wrote to the government to demand a total ban on imports of goods produced in Israel’s illegal settlements.
This follows a demand by 119 MPs last week for further sanctions against Israel and an end to illegal settlement trade. The UK must take concrete steps to halt imports as Israel escalates state violence in the West Bank and accelerates its unlawful plans for annexation, and more widespread violations of international law.
Every day the Secretary of State for Business and Trade fails to stop imports of goods from illegal settlements the UK is breaching its international law obligations and exposing the British public to potential involvement in money laundering.
The production of goods for international export is crucial for the economic viability of the settlements, drives further settlement expansion, and normalises the illegal occupation.
Ihsan Adel, Founder and Chair of Law for Palestine said, “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international law. They are also a key mechanism for the de facto annexation of Palestinian land and are therefore established in violation of peremptory norms of international law. This illegality has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice, the United Nations, and governments including the UK and those of the European Union.
The Court was clear that all states, including the UK, have an obligation not to recognise, aid, or assist in maintaining situations created by these violations. Continued trade with illegal Israeli settlements risks breaching these obligations. The United Kingdom must therefore take immediate steps to ensure that its policies and practices do not contribute to maintaining this unlawful situation of occupation and settlement enterprise.”
GLAN lawyer, George Collecott said, “UK law is clear – knowingly selling a good produced on Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a criminal money laundering offence. The government’s failure to ban trade with the illegal settlements exposes the public to widespread criminality. The government has the power to remedy this situation immediately. It imposed a comprehensive ban on goods imports from Russian occupied areas of Ukraine. Why is Israel’s illegal occupation any different?”
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Notes to editors:
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) is a U.K. based legal non-profit organisation with offices in the U.K. and Ireland. GLAN works with affected communities to pursue innovative legal actions across borders to challenge powerful actors involved in human rights violations and systemic injustice.
Contact Abbi Casey [email protected] for further comment or queries
Law for Palestine (L4P) is a civil society organisation registered in the UK and Sweden that works on the legal questions around Palestinian self-determination in domestic, regional, and international legal fora, through knowledge production, legal action, and capacity building. For further comments or queries, please contact [email protected]
Read the full text of the letter :
UK GOVERNMENT MUST BAN IMPORTS FROM ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS
We call on Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, to urgently confirm the Government will ban imports of any item which is wholly or partially produced in Israel’s illegal settlements.
Every day the Minister fails to stop imports of goods from illegal settlements the UK is breaching its international law obligations and exposing the British public to potential involvement in money laundering.
Illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, of Palestine, and the occupied Syrian Golan are a key feature of Israel’s system of entrenched apartheid and settler-colonialism. The Israeli government is openly admitting that it plans to use settlement expansion to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’[1] thereby undermining and obstructing the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and return.
The production of goods for international export is crucial for the economic viability of the settlements, drives further settlement expansion, and normalises the illegal occupation. As one of Israel’s most significant trading partners, the UK is one of the main destination countries for many settlement products, creating a direct link between British imports and the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
The UK Government must urgently ban imports because:
1. Revenue from settlements constitutes proceeds of internationally unlawful acts. Goods produced and revenue generated on stolen land is the benefit of the crimes underpinning the settlements. Every time a business knowingly imports a settlement good into the UK or sells and supplies it to consumers, it is committing a money laundering offence.
2. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed that States, including the UK must ‘… prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’.[2] The UN General Assembly’s Resolution adopting the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion called on all States to ‘…take steps towards ceasing the importation of any products originating in the Israeli settlements’. UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) likewise affirmed that Israel’s settlements constitute a flagrant violation of international law and called on all states to distinguish between Israel and the occupied territory in their dealings. This distinction encompasses trade and other economic relations.
We remind the Secretary of State that all High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, including the UK, have an obligation to respect and ensure respect for the Conventions. This includes ensuring that public authorities and private entities do not become involved in the acts of appropriation, destruction, pillage and forcible transfer underpinning the settlement enterprise.
Finally, the UK has a duty to condemn and prevent acts of racial segregation and apartheid, under Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The settlement enterprise [3] constitutes acts of institutionalised racial discrimination, and segregation against the Palestinian people, entrenching the apartheid regime.
The UK Government must implement measures to prevent, monitor, and prohibit illegal settlement goods imports in accordance with its obligations under international law. Failure to act continues to expose the UK to legal complicity in the maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements and presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
[1] Bezalel Smotrich quoted in BBC, ‘Israeli settlement plans will ‘bury’ idea of Palestinian state, minister says’, 14 August 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgdzxpkdd7o. [2] ICJ Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Advisory Opinion, Judgment (‘OPT Advisory Opinion’) dated 19 July 2024, § 278. [3] OPT Advisory Opinion, § 229.
Signed:
Al-Haq
Amnesty International UK
Artists’ Union England
Bakers, Food & Allied Workers Union
BARAC UK
British Palestinian Committee
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
Corporate Justice Coalition
European Legal Support Centre (ELSC)
Fire Brigades Union
General Federation of Trade Unions
Global Justice Now
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP)
Law for Palestine
Na’amod
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)
Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC)
Trade Justice Movement
War on Want
