Yousaf Demands Ban on Firm Tied to Israeli Settlements

By the Editorial Team · Sunday, September 13, 2026

Andy Burnham is being urged to block Delek Group, an Israeli conglomerate linked to illegal settlements, from obtaining a licence to drill in the North Sea’s Rosebank oil field. The decision carries political weight as the UK government has recently imposed sanctions on companies connected to such settlements, highlighting tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and raising questions about the ethics of benefiting from natural resources tied to contested territories.

Andy Burnham is facing calls to block a company linked to Israeli settlements from obtaining a licence to drill for oil in the North Sea. The controversy centers on Delek Group, an Israeli conglomerate whose subsidiary, Ithaca Energy, is seeking to develop the Rosebank oil field near Shetland.

The permissions to explore Rosebank were originally granted in 2023 to Equinor, a Norwegian state-owned energy company, in partnership with Ithaca Energy. However, the licence was recently ruled unlawful by the Court of Session in Edinburgh following a legal challenge. An application to reissue the licence has since been submitted and is expected to be approved by UK Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh within weeks.

Humza Yousaf, former first minister of Scotland and a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, has urged the UK government to extend trade sanctions against entities tied to illegal Israeli settlements to include Delek Group. Yousaf welcomed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s recent statement confirming that the UK will prohibit trade with businesses linked to such settlements, emphasizing that this policy should encompass firms that provide services and financial support to them.

“There could be no clearer case of a company servicing illegal settlements than the Delek Group, which the United Nations has accused of supplying utilities and services that sustain these settlements,” Yousaf said. He argued that companies connected to illegal settlements should be barred from profiting from Scotland’s natural resources and cited this as a further reason against approving the Rosebank drilling licence.

Delek Group holds a majority stake—estimated at 75 percent or more—in Ithaca Energy. The conglomerate operates fuel and service stations in areas considered occupied under international law, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Israeli settlements in these territories are widely regarded as illegal by international bodies.

Approval of the Rosebank licence could yield financial benefits estimated at £200 million for the involved companies. The move comes amid heightened tensions regarding Israeli settlements, with the UK government recently imposing sanctions targeting businesses connected to these areas. Miliband described the sanctions as marking “the beginning of a new approach” to addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, accusing Israel’s government of ignoring “ethnic cleansing” carried out by settlers.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the UK’s sanctions as an “outrageous lie” and announced plans for countermeasures. The UK’s actions were coordinated with France and Canada, which issued a joint statement framing the sanctions as a significant step toward protecting the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.