The Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies have written to Labour’s Lisa Nandy asking for clarification of Labour’s policy on Israeli settlement goods following comments by one of the party’s MPs.
In an opening speech in last month’s debate on West Bank settlements, Stephen Kinnock, the MP for Aberavon, called for the government to support “a ban on all products that originate from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.”
He told the Commons: “Profiting from these products is tantamount to profiting from the proceeds of crime and it must stop.”
The JC understands that the JLC’s chief executive Claudia Mendoza and the Board’s CEO Gillian Merron raised concerns in a letter to Labour’s shadow foreign secretary that her party’s policy had shifted towards an unconditional ban on settlement goods - despite a previous pledge that this would only be considered if Israel’s government proceeded with an annexation of part of the West Bank.
