Miliband rejects chief rabbi’s claim British Jews in greater danger after sanctions move

However, the chief rabbi called the government’s announcement “little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric”.

Sir Ephraim said: “Gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel, and the cumulative effect of such punitive policies is to further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews.”

Questioned on Mirvis’s comments, Miliband said: “I don’t agree with the chief rabbi, someone whom I have great respect.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said “anyone who holds British Jews – or indeed Jews around the world – responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, is engaging in antisemitism, pure and simple.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the decision to make the announcement before Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year festival – brings “concerns for communal security at their highest levels… felt particularly acutely by British Jews”.

It added the deteriorating relationship between the UK and Israel has the potential to “further inflame community tensions here too”, while also noting it had warned the Israeli government over the “intolerable settler violence” that harms Israel’s reputation.

The sanctions have caused a diplomatic row with Israel which has closed the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 11 MPs and a campaigner from the country.

On Wednesday the Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli wrote to the head of Israeli border control recommending that several other British linked organisations and individuals should be refused entry to Israel.

The list includes Oxfam, Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Miliband said the “new approach” was needed because of the plans for the E1 development – a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two.

He also told MPs that the UK agreed there was ethnic cleansing in areas of the West Bank – accusing “settler terrorists” of driving Palestinians from their land.

“And all too often, the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this,” Miliband said.

The sanctions will target companies and people providing services like construction and financing of settlements. There will also be a ban on the advertising illegal settlements in the UK. Miliband said the measures could take up to nine months to put in place.

Canada and France have also banned goods from the settles as part of a co-ordinated action with allies.