Reuters: Israel orders UK to close East Jerusalem consulate within 30 days

Israel has ordered the United Kingdom to close its consulate in East Jerusalem within 30 days, Reuters reports, citing two Israeli officials and two sources familiar with the matter.

The report said the consulate, which handles British government affairs concerning Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, is among a series of retaliatory measures announced by Israel after Britain, France and Canada imposed sanctions on Israeli settlements on September 8.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband remarked that he regrets Israel's decision but stressed that it had not come as a surprise.

“We weighed the costs and benefits of acting (...) and we thought we simply could not stand by because we feared Israeli action,” he told BBC TV.

According to Miliband, Israel had “turned a blind eye” to violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

Israel has also said Britain will no longer be permitted to train Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. In addition, 12 British lawmakers and other nationals, including former Labour Party leader and prominent Israel critic Jeremy Corbyn, will be barred from entering Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not respond to a request for comment on the consulate closure.

Miliband told lawmakers that, alongside banning imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Britain would introduce measures targeting companies and individuals providing services to settlements, including “construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate”.

France and Canada have also announced bans on imports from Israeli settlements, while nine other countries, including Denmark and Portugal, endorsed Britain's move.

The measures are the latest international actions against Israel's settlement policy and come as the country faces increasing diplomatic pressure from some of its traditional allies.

The United States has so far responded cautiously. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington did not want to see “anything destabilising” in the West Bank, while declining to comment specifically on the British sanctions.

Israel's government has faced mounting international criticism over its conduct of the war in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, as well as over settlement expansion and increasing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Britain, France and Canada were among the countries that formally recognised the State of Palestine in 2025. They have also previously imposed sanctions on settlements and Israeli ministers accused of inciting violence against Palestinians.

Israel's government, which had anticipated the British sanctions, is due to meet Wednesday to discuss its response to the other countries that have either imposed sanctions or endorsed London's measures, three sources familiar with the matter said.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov