Last week, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced an extraordinary measure — sanctions on an ostensibly allied nation, Israel. Joining the likes of Spain and Ireland, he denounced Jewish settlers in the West Bank as “terrorists” and accused them of “ethnic cleansing.” This move is widely recognized as a serious diplomatic escalation and has been met with defiance from the Israeli government.

Treating Israel as a pariah may prove to be another of the Labour Party’s major strategic blunders. To be sure, settler violence has undermined the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, and all parties involved have an interest in putting a stop to it. But these sanctions are more symbolic than substantive — there is little chance they will achieve anything except diminishing Britain’s influence in the Middle East and leverage with Israel. Furthermore, this policy is likely to drive the troubling wedge between the United Kingdom and the United States even deeper.