Wednesday briefing: Inside sweeping UK sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements

In today’s newsletter: Ed Miliband has announced the strongest statement on Israel’s actions ever issued by the the UK government, but will it make a meaningful difference to Palestinians? Good morning. For almost half a century, British governments have condemned illegal Israeli settlements, acknowledging they represent an obstacle to peace and threaten the prospect of a two-state solution. And yet no government has ever compelled Israel to stop its expansion. Ed Miliband’s statement in the House of Commons yesterday was an attempt to change that. In a powerful and emotive speech, the foreign secretary recounted childhood memories of picking oranges on his grandmother’s kibbutz, accused Israeli “terrorists” of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and announced a series of new measures intended to address what he described as a “deeply painful contrast” between rhetoric and reality. UK news | Police have been told by the government they expect better intelligence gathering after masked far-right groups took to the streets at the weekend, the Guardian has learned, as the Kent force admitted mishandling warnings of potential trouble.

UK politics | Andy Burnham should tackle inequality in the UK by introducing a wealth tax, universal free personal social care and bringing gas and electricity networks under public ownership, according to a report from more than a dozen influential thinkers. Airline industry | Flight delays and cancellations were expected to continue today at UK airports after another air traffic control failure kept planes grounded for hours, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. Iran | Iranian forces claimed to have seized an American underwater drone in the strait of Hormuz that the US military said had “malfunctioned” more than a day earlier. US news | Donald Trump gave sizeable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration, including $45,000 to executive assistant Natalie Harp. Continue reading...