Americans For A Safe Israel is urging American Jews to reconsider travel to Britain and boycott British goods after London signalled new economic measures targeting Israeli communities.

By: TheJ.ca Staff | TheJ.ca | Sept 5, 2026

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband. By Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street – Flickr, OGL 3, Link

Americans For A Safe Israel is calling on American Jews and other supporters of Israel to boycott British travel and products in response to the U.K. government’s plans for new economic measures targeting Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

The New York-based pro-Israel organization issued the call Friday, accusing Britain of attempting to dictate where Jews may live and warning that the proposed measures evoke what it described as troubling episodes in Britain’s historical treatment of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel.

The statement follows comments by British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who told Parliament this week that the government is preparing a “comprehensive reset” of its approach to Israel and Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, commonly referred to internationally as the West Bank.

“We need to look, and we are looking indeed, at our wider economic relationship with the occupied territories and the different tools we have to tackle it,” Miliband told MPs.

“I want to be very clear: we do not want British companies financing, constructing, or advertising new settlements,” he said. “The work we are now undertaking is how we can stop that.”

The British government has not yet announced the full scope of its measures. It has, however, confirmed that it is considering further action, including measures affecting trade with Israeli communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines. The U.K. has also updated its business guidance to explicitly advise British companies against economic and financial activity in Israeli communities there.

AFSI chairman Moshe Phillips sharply rejected Britain’s position.

“When British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said that his government does ‘not want British companies financing, constructing, or advertising new [Israeli] settlements,’ what must be explained here is that he believes London has the moral authority to prevent Jewish families from living in the one region on earth that is the absolute richest in Jewish history, from the stories of Abraham in the Book of Genesis through the times of the kingdom of the House of David,” Phillips said.

AFSI characterized the proposed British measures as a boycott of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and called on American Jews to respond economically.

“At the very moment Israel is fighting to stop Hamas from restrengthening its position in Gaza, Miliband’s threats are a moral disgrace,” Phillips said. “American Jews should respond by immediately canceling all planned trips to the UK and should also stop buying British-made goods.”

AFSI Points To Hebron And Jerusalem

AFSI highlighted Hebron in particular, arguing that Britain’s policy would affect Jewish communities in one of the most significant locations in Jewish history.

Hebron contains the Cave of the Patriarchs, traditionally identified as the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. Jewish connections to the city extend across millennia, although sovereignty, land ownership and Israeli settlement there remain intensely contested politically and internationally.

“More than just another unfair attack against Jewish families and communities in Judea and Samaria by U.K. foreign affairs bureaucrats, this outrage also targets the immediate suburbs of Jerusalem,” Phillips said.

The British government takes a fundamentally different legal and political position. It considers Israeli settlements beyond the 1949 armistice lines illegal under international law and argues that continued construction threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state and a negotiated two-state solution.

Miliband has focused particular criticism on Israel’s E1 development plans between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. On Aug. 19, he called Israel’s launch of a tender for the E1 project an “unacceptable and destructive act” that he said could endanger the viability of a two-state solution.

AFSI Invokes Britain’s 1939 White Paper

AFSI also drew a historical comparison to Britain’s 1939 White Paper, which severely restricted Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine as European Jews faced escalating Nazi persecution.

“Once again, Britain’s political leaders have completely lost their moral compass,” Phillips said.

“The infamous 1939 MacDonald White Paper, when the U.K. government severely restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases in the Land of Israel, stopped millions of Jews from escaping to our homeland and instead they tragically became Hitler’s victims. It seems Miliband wants his country to again side against Jewish rights.”

The comparison represents AFSI’s interpretation of the current British policy rather than the stated position of the U.K. government. London says its proposed measures target settlement expansion and are intended to preserve prospects for a two-state solution, not to restrict Jewish rights generally.

Calls For Boycott Of British Cars

AFSI went further than calling for Americans to reconsider travel to Britain.

The organization urged pro-Israel Americans to boycott British luxury automobile brands, specifically naming Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar and Land Rover, until the British government abandons measures targeting Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

“U.S. Jews can get along just fine without Britain’s overpriced cars,” Phillips said.

The call effectively seeks to turn the boycott strategy back on Britain, using consumer and travel choices to protest London’s policy toward Israeli communities.

The British government’s final package has not yet been released. Miliband told Parliament that ministers are examining their broader economic relationship with the territories and that further details will be announced soon.

AFSI, established in 1970, describes itself as a non-partisan American organization advocating for a secure Israel and opposing policies it believes undermine Israeli sovereignty and Jewish historical rights.

Its latest intervention places the organization among pro-Israel voices pushing back against Britain’s developing policy, not simply as a dispute over Israeli settlement construction, but as a broader argument over Jewish historical rights, international law and whether foreign governments should use economic pressure to influence where Israeli Jews may build and live.

The article follows TheJ.ca’s straight-news publication framework, including required attribution, a distinction between claims and established facts, and the use of Judea and Samaria in the editorial voice.