More than 100 former British and French diplomats have urged Andy Burnham and Emmanuel Macron to take much tougher action against Israel, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of pursuing policies that are destroying the prospect of an independent Palestinian state.
The former ambassadors and senior officials say “Palestine is being erased before our eyes” and accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing in the occupied Palestinian territories. Their joint letter calls on Britain and France to move beyond condemnation and impose concrete measures: suspending arms transfers, restricting trade with Israeli settlements, and taking action over existing trade agreements with Israel. The signatories include dozens of former British ambassadors and senior French diplomats, many with extensive Middle East experience, who argue the UK and France carry particular responsibility here as permanent UN Security Council members that have already recognised the state of Palestine.
‘A stain on the conscience of humanity’
The letter uses unusually strong language for former members of the diplomatic establishment. It accuses the Israeli government of working to “destroy any prospect of an independent Palestinian state” and showing contempt for international law and UN resolutions. It addresses Gaza and the West Bank directly, saying two million Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed into a fraction of the territory while facing severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter, and pointing to home demolitions and settler violence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Those policies, the letter says, amount to ethnic cleansing: “Palestine is being erased before our eyes.” The signatories call the situation “a stain on the conscience of humanity” and argue Britain and France should no longer limit their response to diplomatic statements.
Diplomats demand action on trade and weapons
The former officials set out specific measures they want both governments to pursue: upholding rulings and decisions from international courts, suspending arms transfers involving Israel, and suspending the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement and the EU-Israel Association Agreement if human rights commitments are judged breached. Another proposal would ban trade connected to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including investment and financial services linked to them.
The group also calls for unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza through UN agencies and international aid organisations, and fuller access for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians. They want individuals and businesses involved in the E1 settlement project to face economic consequences in Britain and France, and want both countries to consider making it an offence for their own citizens to buy property on land they say has been unlawfully taken from Palestinians.
Hamas atrocities acknowledged
The letter doesn’t ignore the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, explicitly describing them as horrific. But it argues those crimes can’t justify what the diplomats describe as the systematic destruction of Gaza or continuing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. It also criticises Netanyahu’s argument that Israel must be prepared to “live by the sword,” saying that approach is damaging Israel’s own security and making future negotiations harder. The group still backs a negotiated political settlement and calls for renewed efforts toward a viable Palestinian state, while also saying Palestinian political institutions themselves need reform, including new democratic elections and greater political unity between Gaza and the West Bank.
Pressure growing over E1 settlement plans
This intervention follows renewed international anger over Israeli plans for settlement construction in the strategically important E1 area east of Jerusalem. Critics say development there could further fragment Palestinian territory in the West Bank and make a contiguous future Palestinian state much harder to establish. Britain and France have already condemned the plans. The letter argues governments now need to attach real consequences to that opposition rather than continuing to issue warnings Israel can simply ignore, and wants companies considering participation in the E1 project warned that their commercial interests in Britain and France could be affected.
Former ambassadors among the signatories
The group includes 50 former British ambassadors and 52 former French diplomats, according to reports. Among the British signatories are former ambassadors Sir Dominick Chilcott and Sir Kieran Prendergast, alongside former senior representatives who served in countries including Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Former British and French consuls general in Jerusalem are also among those backing the letter, giving it considerably more weight than a normal campaign letter, many of those signing previously represented their own governments in exactly the countries and institutions now at the centre of this dispute.
Burnham urged to turn recognition into action
The letter is addressed principally to Burnham, with copies also sent to Macron and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. Britain and France recognised the state of Palestine in 2025, but the former diplomats argue recognition alone hasn’t changed conditions on the ground, and want both governments to turn that diplomatic step into actual economic and legal pressure. The central argument is that Britain and France can’t claim to defend international law while failing to act when they believe it’s being breached. “Where there is no law, none of us is safe,” the diplomats warn.
This adds to growing pressure on Burnham’s government from MPs and campaigners demanding tougher measures against Israel. For Downing Street, the difficult question now is whether condemnation of settlement expansion and Palestinian suffering will actually be followed by the sanctions and trade measures these former diplomats are demanding.
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