Owaisi calls on PM Modi to ban goods from Israeli settlements

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 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Owaisi made the appeal on X on Thursday, September 10, tagging Modi and calling on the Indian government to follow the UK’s move to restrict trade with Israeli settlements.

He said the British decision came amid the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

Owaisi said 11 other countries were also set to introduce or support restrictions on trade involving goods produced in Israeli settlements.

“The Indian government should also take this step as soon as possible,” Owaisi said, arguing that such a move would be significant in opposing what he described as Israel’s “growing oppression”.

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.

Miliband said France and Canada would also announce similar restrictions, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden had expressed support for further measures.

He also announced plans for a comprehensive sanctions regime, saying the UK needed to move beyond condemning the expansion of Israeli settlements and take concrete action.

“Today we refuse to be bystanders to further suffering and to the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband told the House of Commons.

The UK, France and Canada are among 12 countries that have backed restrictions on trade involving 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 prospects for a two-state solution.

Israel rejected the British government’s accusations and announced retaliatory measures.

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 also 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 halted.

He added that some elected UK officials and other nationals would be barred 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 described as its “hostile actions”.