Even before Ed Miliband took to his feet in the House of Commons to announce the UK Government’s decision to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Foreign Secretary will have known that the issue is going to drive a major wedge between No 10 and the White House.
As early as last weekend, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, accused Andy Burnham’s Government of “Jew hate” that “knows no boundaries and knows no facts”. (The ambassador now claims that he knew Miliband is Jewish when he made the incendiary comment.)
In the hours leading up to Miliband’s official pronouncement, Huckabee went even further, telling the BBC that there would “without a doubt” be a reaction from Washington to Burnham’s decision. “Something like this with a partner, Israel” would have a “huge economic impact on British businesses”, he warned.
Shorts
“It’s a discrimination against the Israeli government. It’s a discrimination against the Jewish people…it’s like throwing a stone and not having an idea of where it’s going to land.” But he went on to indicate exactly what ripples could follow, predicting Israeli reprisals that could bar the UK from purchasing Israeli-made pharmaceuticals that are widely used in Britain, and the possibility of British businesses even being banned from trading with Florida. Although the latter, of course, would wreak enormous harm on Florida, Donald Trump’s home state, too.
