France and Canada join UK in banning goods from Israeli West Bank settlements
France announced it will end trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, coordinating the move with the UK and Canada. Around a dozen countries are expected to follow amid growing settler violence and settlement expansion.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday that France will launch a process to end commerce with products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, noting that 11 other countries have made similar commitments. Barrot linked the decision to the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, citing rapid settlement expansion, rising violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers, and acts of terror acknowledged even by Israeli authorities themselves.
On the same day, Britain announced its own trade ban on goods from West Bank settlements, coordinated with France and Canada. A French diplomatic source said the situation on the ground could not wait, prompting the national decision, though the exact rules and timing of implementation have not yet been finalized.
No unified EU stance
The move also reflects frustration among several EU member states that had pushed for a bloc-wide decision but failed to secure a qualified majority, facing notable opposition from Germany. The French source stressed the step is not a boycott of Israel and said as many as a dozen more countries are expected to join the initiative.
The announcement drew an angry response from Israel, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the expulsion of the UK ambassador. France's relations with Israel have been strained for months and worsened further after France led efforts at the United Nations last September to recognize a Palestinian state.
The French source said the Israeli government's decision to publish tenders for the E1 project was seen as a red line for Europe and much of the international community. The source also pointed to intensifying settler violence, calling it unacceptable and increasingly destabilizing for the West Bank and the wider region, and regretted that insufficient measures have been taken to address it.
