US officials in Jerusalem and Washington prepared a draft statement early this September proposing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemn British, French and Canadian plans to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, before its release was halted because it lacked the support of the White House and senior State Department officials.
The document was dated 8 September and proposed that Rubio describe the three countries’ plans as a series of hostile measures against Israel and link them to antisemitism. Two people familiar with the matter said it was prepared at the initiative of David Milstein, an influential aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Draft links ban to antisemitism
These plans are unacceptably derived from antisemitic strategies such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement
A senior US official, responding to questions about the document, said it had not been prepared in consultation with the department or the White House. On the same day as the draft, Rubio avoided directly criticising the ban or naming any of the countries involved. He told reporters in Florida, before travelling to Latin America: “It is clear that we are not going to do what the United Kingdom did.
We saw their announcement today, but I have no comment on it at this time.” The US embassy referred questions about the draft, including requests for comment from Huckabee and Milstein, to the State Department. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, according to the report that revealed the document.
Divisions within the Trump administration over settlements
The episode reflects differences between the White House and some senior diplomats serving in Trump’s administration in Israel over the best way to address settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. It also comes amid growing ideological divisions within the US right over support for Israel, particularly among younger Republicans.
President Donald Trump had earlier this year expressed opposition to expanding settlements in the West Bank, an issue that is an increasing source of tension with Palestinians, regional countries and a number of states around the world. However, his administration has not exerted significant pressure on the Israeli government to change its settlement policy.
That position has at times led to differences between Trump and Huckabee, a Baptist pastor and strong supporter of the settlements. The US ambassador uses the biblical name “Judea and Samaria” to refer to the West Bank, a term adopted by the Israeli government but not officially used by the United States.
Milstein, whom sources said initiated preparation of the draft statement, previously called last year for comprehensive US sanctions against the International Criminal Court, aimed at pressuring it to drop war-crimes charges against Israeli leaders over the Gaza war. The Trump administration has not taken that step so far.
Polls chart declining support for Israel
The divisions within the administration come as opinion polls point to declining public support for Israel in the United States since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in June found that 48% of US voters believed their country was providing too much support to Israel, rising to 66% among Democrats.
These results represent a significant increase from 2017, when the question was first asked and 16% of all voters and 20% of Democrats believed Washington was providing too much support to Israel. Views remain more favourable towards Israel among Republicans aged 50 and over, but criticism has increased among younger conservatives.
A Pew Research Centre poll conducted in late March found that about 57% of Republicans aged 18 to 49 held an unfavourable view of Israel, compared with 50% the previous year. In December last year, Trump said after a meeting with Netanyahu that he had not been in complete agreement with the Israeli prime minister over the West Bank.
Settlement expansion and rising settler violence
Netanyahu’s government had overseen rapid settlement expansion. Earlier, in September of the same year, Trump announced that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. The West Bank has been under the control of Israeli forces since the 1967 war, and the United Nations and most countries around the world consider the settlements there illegal under international law.
The current year has seen a sharp rise in violence carried out by Jewish settlers against Palestinians, amid support for some of them from Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which includes ministers from the settlements. Huckabee has publicly condemned the violence and called for those responsible to be prosecuted, but has also stressed that violent settlers are a minority and do not represent settlers generally.
