Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), told The New Arab that the measures had represented a "major departure for Britain".

"It transforms the British official position from being a declaratory one that says that Israel's settlements are illegal and an obstacle to peace to one where it is prepared to take action to uphold international law," he said.

Previous British measures had largely focused on individual extremist settlers and a small number of organisations, Doyle said, whereas the latest package targets the wider economic structures supporting settlement expansion.

"The broad nature of the measures demonstrates that this is a significant step change," he added.

I don't know if "leading" is the right word here given how unimaginably, brutally long nations like the UK have waited to finally take a stand against blatant human rights atrocities materially supported by them in Israel... but I welcome progress nonetheless.