Israel removes UK Consulate signage in East Jerusalem in retaliation for West Bank settlement trade sanctions

Jerusalem/London — Israel retaliated on Thursday against the United Kingdom for having announced two months ago measures against illegal settlements in the West Bank: removing the nearly 200-year-old signage of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, ordering 20 British diplomats, including the consul general, to leave, and downgrading the diplomatic presence to the "UK Mission, Jerusalem."

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced a four-step retaliation plan on the social media platform X: withdrawing British representatives from the international Gaza aid center; terminating British activities training Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank; closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem; and barring 12 elected British officials as well as British citizens accused of engaging in "antisemitic and anti-Israel activities" from entering the country.

Sa'ar stated bluntly: "Any action taken against Israel will be met with a corresponding retaliatory measure by Israel." He declared that the British Consulate in Jerusalem "has ended its duties today." He stressed that, although the building remains British government property, Israel is allowing a working group of seven diplomats to operate inside with "a very limited scope of activities."

The trigger for this diplomatic storm was British Foreign Secretary Miliband's announcement last month banning the import of all goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Miliband told Parliament at the time that "settler terrorists" were carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians in the area, and emphasized that "the sanctions mechanism targets illegal settlements and settlement expansion, not Israel."

The British government said on Thursday that it would not accept the decision to close the consulate, reiterating its "long-standing position that East Jerusalem is occupied territory." Miliband said in a statement: "The UK Mission in Jerusalem is independent, fully operational and will continue to provide important services, conducting our work with the Palestinian people. This arrangement will ensure we maintain a long-term British presence, and Britain's role in supporting the two-state solution."

Miliband also acknowledged that, due to the lack of "necessary assurances" regarding the security and protection of staff, Britain has temporarily withdrawn some personnel and their dependents, and stressed that during the ongoing discussions it would "not take reciprocal action." Former British Consul General in Jerusalem Vincent Fean told Al Jazeera that the Labour government's strategy appeared to be to wait for the outcome of Israel's October 27 election, "and then deal with whatever government the Israeli electorate chooses."

### The gap between occupation realities and international law

Britain's reliance on international law and diplomatic convention to maintain its presence mirrors, in reverse, the de facto power held by Israel. The legal analysis cited by Al Jazeera stated explicitly: "Because the British Consulate is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war and has occupied continuously since, Israel has no legal right to close the diplomatic mission." Yet it is precisely this ongoing occupation that allows Israel to effectively decide what diplomatic bodies may operate locally and which may not.

Israel condemned the UK's sanctions decision last month as "a series of anti-Israel decisions by the Labour government," and Sa'ar attacked Miliband's statement to Parliament as an "outrageous lie." This confrontational logic had already surfaced when Britain adopted the sanctions: on one side, the legitimacy of position conferred by international law; on the other, the occupying power's de facto control on the ground.

### The E1 plan as a focal point of conflict

The E1 settlement plan, targeted by the British sanctions mechanism, aims to connect large settlements such as Ma'ale Adumim with occupied East Jerusalem, effectively cutting the West Bank in two. Fean told Al Jazeera that Miliband "took the right position" on E1, because the Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich, who is leading the plan, has publicly stated that it is designed to "bury the two-state solution."

The history of Britain's diplomatic presence in Jerusalem can be traced back to 1839; it was closed at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and re-established as a consulate general in 1948, after the end of the British Mandate for Palestine. This diplomatic channel effectively performs functions such as serving British Palestinians and handling documentation and consular protection — the population most directly affected by this downgrade.

According to Israeli newspaper Ynet, citing messages sent to Israeli officials, Britain at one point considered expelling Israeli diplomats in kind, but the Miliband government ultimately chose to de-escalate. Al Jazeera's London correspondent Kamil Nadelek reported that downgrading the consulate to a mission "marks a low point in UK-Israel relations."