UK tax agency threatened with legal action over Israeli settlement trade, says report
UK tax agency threatened with legal action over Israeli settlement trade, says report Submitted by MEE staff on Sat, 09/05/2026 - 14:57 US-based Global Echo Litigation Center says HMRC has failed to stop illegal settlement goods from entering the country Palestinian women look on as Israeli bulldozers demolish an apartment building near the Israeli settlement of Hagai, south of the occupied West…
A US-based legal group has threatened to take legal action against Britain's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), claiming the tax agency has failed to prevent the entry of goods from Israeli settlements into the UK, according to a recent report. The Global Echo Litigation Center, a non-profit organization, accused HMRC of allowing agricultural products, including those from the occupied West Bank, to enter the country tariff-free, despite trade rules requiring such items to be clearly labeled as originating from settlements.
The group's investigation, which examined over 30,000 export documents, found that one in six shipments contained agricultural produce from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights. The report identified five companies that routinely sourced agricultural products from settlements, often by mixing settlement produce with Israeli goods and listing a settlement postcode while claiming Israel as the country of origin.
The non-profit called on HMRC to classify such imports as high risk and strengthen checks to ensure compliance with trade rules.
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