𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Ed Miliband has been branded a ‘Gazaholic’ after his trade sanctions on Israel sparked a furious letter from US law chiefs demanding tit for tat penalties on British companies. In an unprecedented step, 13 US State Attorney Generals have written to the British Embassy in Washington condemning the UK sanctions unveiled by the Foreign Secretary in September.

Mr Miliband imposed a ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank territory. Jewish settlers have been criticised for illegal developments and a series of high-profile attacks on Palestinians and their homes in recent months, including dragging a donkey to its death tied behind a vehicle.

But critics have argued punishing Israel trade links only strengthens rising antisemitism in the UK and abroad and damages British economic interests. Attorney Generals from 13 US states, including Florida, Georgia and Kansas, have published their letter to British US Ambassador Christian Turner.

They warned Labour’s sanctions on Israel breach US law and align the UK “with the objectives of terrorist organisations”, such as Hamas. The officials also warned that British companies trading in the US now face financial penalties at state level.

Greg Smith MP, Parliamentary Chair of Conservative Friends of Israel, said: “Ed Miliband is so ideologically hell-bent on attacking Israel that he has no care in the world for the ordinary Brits who will suffer the economic consequences.

“The foolish nonsense of Gazaholics like Miliband has gone too far and the Prime Minister must come clean to the country about the economic self-harm his Foreign Secretary is inflicting.”

The US intervention follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first defeat in Parliament last week after the House of Lords passed a ‘regret motion’ about the Government’s legislation implementing the trade sanctions.

Cross-party Lords warned about the likelihood that the Government was breaking US law, fuelling antisemitism in the UK, and condemned the Government for trying to pass the legislation without scrutiny.

Former Attorney General of England and Wales Sir Michael Ellis KC added: “Burnham and Miliband have disregarded multiple warnings about the discriminatory nature of British trade sanctions on the world’s only Jewish state and now the whole UK economy could suffer.”

Former advisor to the White House National Security Council, Richard Goldberg, said UK firms were facing a choice between “boycotting Israel or keeping their investment and sales going in the United States”.

He said: “It is extraordinary that Prime Minister Burnham would force British firms to sacrifice multi-billion-dollar contracts in states across America and face massive divestment penalties due to idiotic, performative anti-Israel boycott gestures. It is all utterly absurd.”

The Foreign Office have been approached for comment.